It has an NVidia card along with integrated Intel HD graphics chipset. I have an Alienware M18X R2 laptop and the problem is the graphics driver. I was getting the same thing and tried many many suggestions but only one of them actually worked. I specifically wish to have a dual boot installation rather than running Ubuntu in a virtualized environment from within Windows. I would be very grateful for any insight into how I could resolve this. There is no BIOS option to specifically disable optimus if that could be causing the issue. All it has on it currently is a fresh install of Windows 7 ultimate, which I haven't even logged into yet. I'm installing onto a fresh SSD with no previous grub / Linux installations. Graphics: 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M Memory - 12288 1600 MHz Dual Channel DDR3 Processor i7-3740QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.7Ghz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0) (this is disabled in the BIOS currently) The laptop specs are: Alienware M17x: Standard base No further than this, and certainly not to the point where I can select any other options. The furthest the installation has gotten is simply to the Ubuntu splash screen with the little boxes underneath. I have also tried installing using 'nomodeset' and on one occasion 'acpi=off' without success. I have tried standard 'legacy boot' and UEFI booting, following the respective forum guides for each. I boot from a 12.10 ISO and I can get to the installer, however no matter which options I select (try Ubuntu or install) the installation process starts and eventually I get a black screen and the computer just hangs there indefinitely. I would describe myself as quite familiar with Linux and Linux installations and I use Ubuntu every day at work, however I have been completely unable to install 12.10 on my new alienware laptop at home.

Alienware software m17x