afternoon peeps.

I've got myself a brand-new problem! I've just bought a new nVidia GeForce FX5200 128mb AGPx8 card, which is nice. Windows loves it and it works a treat.

Now, I had to reinstall Mandrake (cos windows screwed up my HD) which was fine; the installation worked like a dream.

BUT: Just as it was about to start X, the screen went blank and that was that. It didn't crash because the HD was still working blah blah blah.

Its either a problem with the graphics card or my monitor. Is this card supported my linux (it must be, hence the GeForece FX generic driver in the install)? My monitor is actually a load of crap - its a tiny 15" 50/60Hz piece of junk, so I'm thinking maybe the frequencies are out of range or something. It makes a funny high-pitched sound, some flickering happens, then nothing.

I've tried setting the resolution and BPP to the lowest settings but I still get a blank screen.

So, whats the verdict? Is it my monitor or have you heard of this kind of issue before?

I had this kind of problem with NVidia drivers. It takes absolutely ages to initialise or to change a resolution. Be patient and wait around five minutes after the screen goes black and it might come up.
I remember a release of the windows drivers did this, but they changed those quickly. Hopefully new linux drivers will correct this problem.

HTH
glj

Try borrowing someone elses monitor and see if that fixes your problem, if so than its your monitor.

I don't believe it!! NOOOO!

Its my graphics card it doesn't like....boo hoo!!!
Its just one thing after another.

I connected a 19" TFT monitor up to my PC but the same thing happened. I can get linux running at runlevel3; it just doesn't want to know about graphics.

I have the most recent nvidia linux drivers (a long filename with .run as the extention), but i don't know how to install it from the console.

I've fiddled with the resolution, changed the card type, changed the monitor type and tested every possible setting. Bugger all.

I don't want to have to change my graphics card, i had to buy a new £70 motherboard because my old one was unsupported.
<sigh> please help.

Have you downloaded and installed the drivers off Nvidia's website for Linux? Try installing them (THey're the best) and making the necessary changes to your /etc/X11/XF86config-4 file and then as root do a Init 5 to get back into graphical mode and see if it works then. You may also have to reboot but I doubt it.

Also post what the X server is spitting out when it fails. Linux should fail back to the text login if the X server fails just give it a minute or two.

I've got the nvidia drivers, its a file with a .run extension. I'll install them tonight.

I'll post any error messages when i get back from work.
I can remember something in one of the kernel logs saying 'cannot detect AGP aperture size', but I don't think it would cause this much trouble, or would it?

X is still not starting properly when booting-up. I've got it working immediatly after installing the drivers by typing 'startx', but thats the only time.

Now i get the "'the nvidia kernel module cannot be loaded" or something, and error 104 - whatever that is.

don't worry. Problem solved.

I used 'nv' instead of 'nvidia' in the drivers section of XF86Config-4(as suggested by numerous readme's), and all works fine.

How did you install the drivers from the command line?

i used:

sh NVIDIA-blah-blah-blah.run --opengl-headers

I think.