sometimes blank screen on startup solved

[gold_finger]

Try this.

If computer boots to grub screen choices, highlight choice to boot LL and hit "e" for edit.  Then use arrow keys to navigate to line with "splash quiet" on it.  Immediately after "quiet" put a space, then type i915.modeset=0 and add another space if there is another word after it.  (You want one space before and after what you type if there are words on either side of it.)  Hit "Ctrl+X" or "F10" to save change and reboot.

If computer does not boot to a grub screen, then push and hold down the left shift key a few seconds after you power on the computer.  That should get the grub screen to show.  (If no luck, try repeatedly hitting the left shift key after power-up.)  When get grub, follow same steps above.

If that test works, make it permanent this way:

*  Open a terminal and type following to open /etc/default/grub file with text editor as root.

Code:

gksu leafpad /etc/default/grub

*  Look for this line:

Code:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

*  Change it to this:

Code:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.modeset=0"

*  Save file, then close text editor

*  Still in the terminal, enter the following:

Code:

sudo update-grub

*  Close terminal and reboot computer.