I have an Alienware 17. With Ubuntu 14.04 CD, I choose "Try Ubuntu without installing". Then hit enter. "Ubuntu" appears on screen for a short time. Then black screen. Then these messages: radeon GPU lockup CP stall for more than (x msec). radeon fence wait failed. radeon failed testing IB on ring 5.
Graphics card is AMD Radeon R9 M290X. Drivers are current.
What should I do?
Try the solution I found and wrote about in this thread:
Ubuntu 12.10 failing to install on Alienware M17x
The key (for me and my Alienware M18x R2) was setting the vga and nomodeset options before selecting a menu option. I too was installing Ubuntu 14 from DVD. Note that after you press a menu ("Try Ubuntu..." for example) the next screen should be this one with the progress dots:
If you see this screen its time for your happy dance because you will be able to see the rest of the installation!
Note: there are times after this progress screen where the screen goes black even for many seconds. Do not fret, it WILL eventually get you to Ubuntu. The DVD is chugging away loading junk into memory so it will eventually get there. Have patience.
