hello

firstly, i would like to declare myself a noob, so please be patient with me XD

alright... i downloaded the mandrake 9.2 (i586) isos, checked their md5 checksums and burnt them..

1st try:
Install went on smoothly... install prompted me to remove boot disc and click Reboot..
after rebooting, it went on fine into the bootloader screen.. i had 3 choices of linux (cant remember the names tho, one of them was just plain "linux") and one for windows..
i tried all 3 linux"es", they checked the BIOS and whatever.... and when it all stopped loading, the screen turned black... i couldnt do anything but reset my computer
windows loaded fine when i chose it though :s

so i went on to my 2nd try... i reinstalled the whole thing
somewhere in disc 2, the installation stopped... the cursor turned into an X and the background was black with white stripes... after around 10 secs, the install restarted by itself.. i just continued with the installation...
they prompted for reboot... i took out the disc and rebooted....
before reaching where the bootloader screen should appear... something like this came out on the screen..

L 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99

for about half the screen height


has anyone encountered this before? help would be great XD
thanks

woah, congrats noobie, you boogered it up good!

The L99 99 99 99 99 99 is the bootloader screwing up because it isnt completely/correctly installed.

Back to the blank screen, X, white lines, that all is indicating that X is having trouble loading, probably due to poor support for your video card or incorrect settings. Since you are just installing, your best bet is to start the install over again. Make sure you select the right video card settings and monitor settings. When you boot up the computer, if it just goes to a blank screen, hit ctrl-alt-del twice to reboot. If it doesnt reboot, press the caps lock key to see if the light comes on. If it doesnt come on then you are frozen and need to hard-reset. Try doing the interactive startup and dont start "dm". This will put you into a command prompt at startup and you can do things like check your XF86Config file, etc.

What video card are you using? (Please dont say something with S3)

hmm.. im using geforce fx 5200... the driver was automatically selected as far as i remember...and it had something to do with "geforce fx" so i assumed that it was correct...

about monitor settings, im not too sure which is "correct" :S
i'm using a samsung syncmaster 173t... so i chose 1024x760 Flat Panel in the config

Ooo, I think the 5200 has issues with linux, one of my friends was doing some research for me and I believe that was the one he said specifically not to get. I'll double-check on that.

ack... -_-

does that mean i have no choice but to use windows for now?:S
and if there ARE drivers for fx5200... do i have to do the kernel compile thingy? X(