Setting up (K)Ubuntu on an HP Elitebook 8440p is a bit hard to handle using the default 10.10 amd64 desktop cd because the graphical installer causes problems on the builtin nvidia graphics chip.

Having the startup menu of the cd, choose “nomodeset” option and start the installer.

After installation, hit shift to enter grub. type ‘e’ to edit the kernel line.

Change ‘quiet splash’ to ‘nosplash nomodeset’. Hit Ctrl+X to continue booting.

After logging in, first change the advanced menue to the classic one. Then go to “System” – “Additional Drivers” and active the nvidia proprietary graphics card driver.

After that, edit /etc/default/grub and change GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”nosplash nomodeset” and save.

Then type “sudo update-grub” and reboot 🙂