Eu tive um problema muito semelhante depois de migrar alguns convidados VMware para um novo host KVM - até me deparar com esse do estran-issue-booting-kvm-guests / "que referenciou de volta a serverfault .
A solução que funcionou para mim foi adicionar:
nomodeset
para o GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=""
in /etc/default/grub
Não se esqueça de executar update-grub
depois de editar o arquivo.
The newest kernels have moved the video mode setting into the kernel. So all the programming of the hardware specific clock rates and registers on the video card happen in the kernel rather than in the X driver when the X server starts.. This makes it possible to have high resolution nice looking splash (boot) screens and flicker free transitions from boot splash to login screen. Unfortunately, on some cards this doesnt work properly and you end up with a black screen. Adding the nomodeset parameter instructs the kernel to not load video drivers and use BIOS modes instead until X is loaded.