Comment 28 for bug 561802

I had the same problem. I am using a Dell E6410 with Intel integrated graphics (cited as i915 by lspci). No nvidia in this case. ubuntu is 10.04, alternate.

It was possible to boot in console mode (security mode) using "nomodeset". xforcevesa did not work or even blacklist for i915.
If I added "nomodeset" (normal boot), it was possible to see the console messages but when the X started I had a blank screen and caps lock/num lock started to blink.

When I added i915.modeset=0 as kernel option I was able to boot the system (kernel 2.6.32-21). I had some hiccups at X startup and some messages related to misconfiguration but it worked.

I tried the latest kernel/intel driver following tips from user´s forum (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1475128) but downloading the latest available kernel (2.6.35-rc1):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel

from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.35-rc1-lucid/, I downloaded and installed the following packet (using wget or similar tool):

linux-image-2.6.35-020635rc1-generic_2.6.35-020635rc1_i386.deb
linux-headers-2.6.35-020635rc1_2.6.35-020635rc1_all.deb
linux-headers-2.6.35-020635rc1-generic_2.6.35-020635rc1_i386.deb

It was necessary to add "i915.modeset=0" as kernel parameters, as cited before. To make this change permanent, do the following:

echo options i915 modeset=0 | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/i915-kms.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u

But, same behavior, so it is not necessary to upgrade.
I think I need to create a proper xorg.conf now to avoid all warning messages that I am receiving at X startup.