How I Installed Ubuntu 23.04 on a Late 2011 Macbook Pro (for the Second Time)

• Installed Ubuntu on my other pc into an SSD.

• Inserted the SSD back into the MacBook pro.

• Currently stuck at boot because using ESC key doesn’t boot into GRUB anymore.

• Found on bard that these options may work:

  • On the query what happens in you pres esc on boot on linux 16 it responded:

Pressing theesckey during boot on Linux 16 will bring up the GRUB menu. The GRUB menu is a bootloader that allows you to select which operating system you want to boot into. If you have multiple operating systems installed on your computer, you will see a list of them in the GRUB menu. You can use the arrow keys to navigate the list and theEnter key to select an operating system.

If you press the esc key repeatedly during boot, you will eventually see a message that says “Press e to edit options.” Pressing e will open a text editor where you can edit the GRUB configuration file. This can be useful if you need to make changes to the boot order or the kernel parameters.

If you don’t want to see the GRUB menu, you can disable it by editing the GRUB configuration file. To do this, open the file /etc/default/grub and change the line that says GRUB_TIMEOUT=5 to GRUB_TIMEOUT=0. This will make the GRUB menu disappear immediately after the boot process starts.

Here are some additional things to keep in mind:

• If you have a UEFI BIOS, you may need to press F12 or another key instead of esc to bring up the GRUB menu.
• If you are using a live CD or USB to boot into Linux, you will not see the GRUB menu.
• If you have made changes to the GRUB configuration file, you will need to run the update-grub command to save the changes and make them take effect.

• On the query how can you access the grub menu on ubuntu 24.04 at boot it responded:

There are two ways to access the GRUB menu on Ubuntu 24.04 at boot:

• Using the Shift key: When your computer is starting up, press and hold the Shift key until the GRUB menu appears. This will work regardless of whether you are using BIOS or UEFI.
• Using the Esc key: If you are using UEFI, you can also press the Esc key repeatedly until the GRUB menu appears.

Once the GRUB menu appears, you can use the arrow keys to navigate the list of operating systems and the Enter key to select an operating system to boot into. You can also use the e key to edit the GRUB configuration file.

Here are some additional things to keep in mind:

• If you have disabled the GRUB menu in the GRUB configuration file, you will not be able to access it by pressing the Shift or Esc key.
• If you are using a live CD or USB to boot into Ubuntu, you will not see the GRUB menu.

• Currently going to try booting into grub and if I succeed I need to notify the guys in the comments in the original video guide I’ve been following to do most of this. I remember this worked somehow last time I flashed this very same version of ubuntu on this laptop.

• The reason of the reflash it that something got corrupted and I couldn’t boot anymore, I tried plugin the SSD into the PC to boot there and troubleshoot but I couldn’t boot there either.

• 08-01-2023 update I found the source of the issue is a battery failure. I ordered this battery in mid April! 😡. It reports itself as fully charged and manages to boot into the decryption splash screen but the system restarts before loading the desktop environment. Connecting the old bloated original battery fixed the issue and the system booted into Ubuntu as it had been doing before the sudden battery dead.

• I can confirm that in Ubuntu 23.03 holding the shift key at boot will take you to the grub menu in order to add the necessary modifications.

• For future reference this are some videos and guides I referenced in order to regain control on the issue:

  • macbook-pro-2011-defective-gpu-fix-v2.md.
  • Macbook Pro 2011 AMD Graphics Card Fix Linux Solution (Using Ubuntu) gray death screen

• I have only been able to boot into Ubuntu so far since the internet recovery appears unusable despite many attempts to recover one of the SSDs’s into High Sierra. I’ll try a bit more but this is probably a lost cause already.

• I have a much more powerful pc that I use most of the time but I enjoy having a laptop that I can take to my gf’s house and play music on the go. If it wasn’t for the busted GPU and the defective new battery this machine is usable alright for most of my needs and I really can’t afford spending on a laptop right now. I hope I can get a new battery from the amazon seller which I already contacted.