Just got a HP Pavilion zx5040us and want to replace XP Home with Redhat 9 or Fedora so I can use my laptop at work.

I'm very new to the scene so I checked out the linux-latop site but didnt find any information on my model. Google also came up empty.

When I go to start the install I choose GUI mode and shortly after that the screen goes blank, the same when I try 'linux lowres' or linux 800x600' or even 'linux text'. Any ideas would be helpful in determing what is happening with the screen. I did check the BIOS for turning plug-n-play off but there is no option for that. Looking into upgrading the BIOS.

Thanks for any help you can provide with this.

Chris

try booting 'linux noauto' to see if any of the modules are the problem. I bought an HP ze5477 and that was the only way that I was able to boot it (once installed through, all was fine).

Will try and update post with results. Thanks for the quick response.

Looks as though that didnt' work. Still looking at the black screen. I'm wondering if the wide screen has something to do with this.

After some careful searching on the boards in the NEWBIE area I found the answer:
linux nofb