Howto Fix Ubuntu 11.04 Won't Boot After Restart Problem [Intel Mobile 4 Series Chipset]

Recently, I had to install Ubuntu 11.04 in a Core 2 Duo Lenovo laptop with Intel Mobile 4 Series Chipset. I had previously installed Ubuntu 10.10 in it and it worked flawlessly. But that was not the case when I installed the latest Ubuntu. Though installation went smooth, Ubuntu 11.04 just won't boot after restart and instead a blank screen appears with a blinking cursor. After some amount of browsing, I think I have just found out how to fix the blank screen issue. 

Fix for 'Ubuntu 11.04 Won't Boot/Shows Blank Screen After Restart' Issue

After installing Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal in a laptop with Intel Mobile 4 Series chipset, the laptop won't boot after restart and shows a blank screen with blinking cursor instead. The following steps solved the issue for me.

• Switch on your laptop and choose 'recovery mode' from GRUB(usually the second option). From the recovery mode prompt, choose 'failsafeX' option.

• Choosing failsafeX mode will run your OS in safe graphics mode and you will be able to access classic GNOME desktop now.

• Open Terminal and do the following then(give password when prompted).

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

• Text Editor window will open up. Copy paste the following text to the bottom of the file.

GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text

• Save and exit. Finally, do the following in Terminal to update GRUB.

sudo update-grub

• Done. Now restart Ubuntu 11.04, it should work OK now.

This is what I did in my case and it worked. Though I have to warn you that a lot of other things can also go wrong, like, not everyone will be able to successfully boot into failsafeX mode. If you are still not able to solve blank screen after reboot issue, this ubuntuforums thread might be of real help to you. It saved my day for sure. Thanks for reading.