Red Hat 9.0 + GeForce FX 5200

[TheQuirk]

Well, I finally got a new computer, and being the hardware-junkie that I am, I went for an nForce2-based motherboard and a brand new GeForce FX card.

I decided to give RH9 a go, to see what everybody was raving about--not a very nice experience. RH9 never even let me get past first boot. It auto-detected my video card and monitor fine, but, for some reason, used wrong settings which my monitor did not support.

Sigh...

I used RH's text-based installer, but it never let me pass first boot. It keeps loading X improperly and thus not allowing me to view a thing with my monitor. I am pretty sure installing the nVidia drivers and reconfiguring X by myself would fix the problem, but I am getting stuck at trying to close down X--how would I do this? Alternativly, how would I tell the RH installer what settings to use for my monitor?

[Void Main]

Hmmm, it probably picked the correct monitor but I am guessing that the nVidia drivers are causing the problem and like you said, installing the nVidia drivers from nvidia.com would probably solve the problem. If X doesn't start Red Hat should tell you so and give you an option to boot to a text console. If it doesn't for some reason you could boot into single user mode by pressing "a" at the boot menu and adding "single" to the boot line. This will bring your system up in single user mode without X. You can then try and install the real nVidia drivers. I believe I have seen similar issues with nForce motherboards on other forums so you might want to look around before taking my word for it...

[TheQuirk]

They probably were talking about nForce2 IGG (the version that has graphics built-in)--I do not have this version. The problem is that X does launch properly--it simply uses whacky settings for my monitor. Anyway, I will try doing it through single user mode (I can't belive I didn't think of it myself ) and tell you if it worked, because I'm sure you wouldn't be able to sleep well without knowing the outcome.

[Void Main]

Ok, so it's probably an out of range vert/horiz sync? Then instead of going into single user mode you could just press "CTRL+ALT+F1" to switch to a virtual console and modify your /etc/X11/XF86Config to proper settings. What is the make/model of your monitor?

[TheQuirk]

Well, I have tried that, but never have I gotten a command prompt for some reason. And yes, the problem is that it's getting out of sync. The monitor itself is reconized properly--it's a ViewSonic "UltraBrite" A90f+.

When configuring X through the RH installer, the installer provided the correct settings, so I'm suspecting it's the lack of driver that is causing all of this.

[Void Main]

Since you are running nVidia based hardware I would post your problem here:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/forumdi ... forumid=14

I'm sure someone there would have an answer to your problem. I would say you have more than a sync problem if you can't do a CTRL+ALT+F1 and get to a virtual console..

[TheQuirk]

No, it's not that nothing is viewed--I can see text, it's just that I can't actually type anything in. It's taken up by various things.

[Void Main]

Weird... again I would post the problem on that nVidia forum, someone there would surely know.