Installation Problems on Older Macbook Pro - NEED HELP!

[kalpana]

I have an older Macbook Pro 17 from early 2009. The DVD drive appears to have died after the Apple OS update that no longer supported their own internal hardware. I'm trying to revive this older laptop so my son can use it and I can't afford to buy a new system at this time. I've used Ubuntu for years and it's my preferred OS. However, I'm having some serious issues that I can not resolve. Here's what I've tried:

1. Created bootable USB drive and it will open and install the Ubuntu OS. Upon restart the system just goes to a black screen and I can do nothing at all. I've tried this with the "nomodeset" change I read about in other posts on the web. Attempted this literally 5 times and got the same result each time.

2. Using the bootable usb I made the "nomodeset" change and loaded the OEM version of the OS. This gave me a black screen, but I was able to right click with a mouse to discover that I had 2 built-in screens for the LAPTOP!! I was completely unable to access the Terminal in any way to make changes to this. I then tried #1 again.

3. After option #1 didn't work, I tried #2 again. Got the same results with the dual screen garbage. However, upon restarting the system, I am back to the black screen and unable to do anything.

I just need this to work. I'm ready to sell it for parts or smash it to bits just to make myself feel better. However, my son needs it more so I'm left asking for help. Does anyone have any way to fix these issues?

To say I hate Apple is the understatement of the century!