I am running Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 (upgraded a few months ago from 20.04) on a circa-2011 MacBook Pro. (CLARIFICATION: The problem seems unrelated to the upgrade from 20.04 to 22.04 ... I've been on 22.04 for several months now before the problem came up...)
An automatic update over this past weekend seems to be the proximate cause for the boot issue. With the default boot sequence, I see the usual graphical Ubuntu logo for a bit followed by the list of services loading. After a few seconds, I end up on a black screen with only a blinking cursor and no login prompt. If I press Ctrl+Alt+F3, I get a VT where I can login.
I did some investigating from this terminal, and the key issue seems to be this:
sudo systemctl status gdm
...
modprobe: FATAL: Module nvidia not found in directory /lib/modules/6.5.0-21-generic
This thread seems to be about a similar issue:
Syslog error: "modprobe: FATAL: Module nvidia not found in directory /lib/modules/5.15.0-37-generic"
The Nvidia driver that has been working for the past 2 years (since I first installed Ubuntu on this machine) is 390. However, when I tried to run:
apt install linux-modules-nvidia-390-6.5.0-21-generic
I get this:
E: Unable to locate package linux-modules-nvidia-390-6.5.0-21-generic
One thing of importance: I can use the GRUB menu to boot using a 5.15.xxx Kernel, and there are no issues. I'm able to boot into the graphical UI normally, and it recognizes the external monitors normally (they are connected via a multi-hub that connects to the MacBook Pro with MiniDisplayport). The GRUB "Advanced" menu currently offers 5.15.0-97-generic (which based on the logs, was also installed with the updates this past weekend) and 5.15.0-91-generic. Either of these options seems to boot without issue.
Using kernel 5.15.xxx seems like a decent temporary work-around. But I'm concerned if Nvidia won't be providing a 390 driver for the Linux kernel 6.x ... will I be running up against planned obsolescence of the proprietary Nvidia driver? Without access to the source code, I don't suppose there is any way to port the driver for the 5.15 linux kernel to a 6.5+ kernel?
