Here's the work-around (cross-posted from another thread on Page 1). I hope this helps!
Ok. I had the same problem as all of you seem to have, but fixed it thanks to another thread in this forum.
Rather than link directly, I'll post the workaround here, though your mileage may vary.
1. Start out by backing up your mac to an external drive.
2. Install ReFIT. (restart two times, and it will take effect).
3. Open Boot Camp and set up a windows partition.
4. Shut down and boot into the Lucid install disk.
5. Select the option to try linux without installing (ie. boot into the live CD).
6. Open gparted (System > Administration)
7. Use gparted to delete the boot camp partition.
8. Remain in gparted, and create a tiny partition just after the mac partition (512M should be plenty). Name it BOOTCAMP or something memorable and set the file system as NTFS.
9. Apply changes. (BE SURE TO APPLY CHANGES.) Then exit gparted.
10. Start the Lucid installer from the desktop. Follow the locations and language and whatnot. When it asks you to prepare the disk, choose "Specify partitions manually."
11. Select the partition you just created (which should be /dev/sda3) , choose Change --> use as NTFS. At Check Format choose mount point = /windows.
12. Select the free space. You'll need to create two partitions here, one for Ubuntu, and one for Swap at the end. I set upFor the first partition, choose Use as Ext4, mount point = / . In the remaining section (I used 4096 bytes, ie. 4 Gig) choose Add --> use as Swap. Click ok.
If everything worked as expected, you'll have 5 partitions: sda1 (EFI); sda2 (OSX); sda3 (NTFS); sda4 (where Ubuntu will go); and sda5 (the swap).
13. Go through the rest of the installation. On the last screen (screen 8, iirc) click the Advanced button and choose to install the boot loader to /dev/sda3, which should now appear.
Click Install and wait 20 or 30 minutes while Ubuntu installs.
14. when the installation is complete, restart. In the rEFIt menu, choose the partition tool and resync.
15. Power down your computer.
16. Power up and you should be just fine.
If you're not dual-booting, you should still choose to set up a special partition for GRUB, since it will whack out your EFI even if Ubuntu is the only thing there. (Get into the live CD, go gparted, wipe the drive, set up a partition for GRUB, one for Ubuntu, and one for the swap, and be sure to install GRUB in dev/sda2/ instead.)
Good luck! I hope this works out for everyone. It worked brilliantly on my revA Macbook (1,1), and I'm typing this from the Mac partition.
Oh. And I just realized that I have my notes from my install, and they include a link to the
thread where I originally found this. All credit goes to Jacques4x4 who originally developed this method.
Edit: I'm now on the Ubuntu partition, and realized that I forgot to mention one small thing. When you start up Ubuntu via rEFIt, the GRUB will assert itself and give you some additional boot options (straight Linux, safe Linux, shutdown, OSX, and something else, if I recall). GRUB will automatically boot into Ubuntu after 10 seconds, or you can just hit 'return' and boot right into Ubuntu. Not a big deal, to me, but those of you who really value your boot up times may want to search for a way to teach GRUB to shut up.
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