ok, so after much grief, i've come for help

first, specs:
Toshiba Satellite A65-S126 (yes, its a laptop)
Processor - Celeron 2.8 GHz
Intel RAM 512 MB DDR SDRAM
Hard drive size 60 GB
CD-RW / DVD-ROM combo
Modem - Analog Modulation Protocol ITU V.92
Battery capacity 4300 mAh
Cache size 128 KB
Cache type L2 cache
Data bus speed 400 MHz
Display (Projector)
Diagonal size (inches) 15 in
Display technology TFT active matrix
Max resolution 1024 x 768
Graphics - 64mb ATI MOBILITY RADEON 7000 IGP
Max Resolution (external):Colors Max Resolution (external) 32-bit color
Max resolution (external) 2048 x 1536
no floopy drive


ok, so today, i decided to make the transition to linux.... i went over to linuxiso.org and picked up red hat 9...

i installed it fine, everything went peachy, i loaded my first time great, only problem was my resolution at 800x600... so naturally, i changed it to 1024x768... told me i had to reboot to see the changes.... i did....

when i rebooted, my screen did not turn on.... blank... nada... happens every time i boot... dont even see the nice little "toshiba" screen... which means my LCD is completly off, but i know its receiving a video signal at all because ive switched to external monitors before...

im lost

ive found help sites with similar problems, in fact, i found something like it on this site, but he fixed his problem: nothings even remotely worked

things ive tried:
using external monitor
hitting ctl alt f1...f12 (supposed to pull up text base login)
hitting ctl alt f1...f12 and hitting enter afterwhich
ive tried hitting fn f1...f12
tryed booting from my install cds and entering rescue
i would try boot disk... but i dont have a floppy drive
i can't get into the bios.... well i might, but i cant SEE anything
ive tried third party rescue disks
ive tried installing windows

im very frustrated, no results what so ever, and i realllllyyyy dont know what to do, worse case sernario, is there anyway to clean the redhat install so that i can install something else.... i mean, like ive said, ive tryed booting the windows install, but i have no screen to see what im doing... i know with PCs u can jump the harddrive to reset the bios, which MIGHT help, but i dont know if there is an equivlant on laptops (first laptop for me)..

if anyone could help i would be very grateful

thank you

This sounds to me like a dead LCD. No matter what you do, it should still show you BIOS and Windows. Before you start the kernel the LCD is in no way affected by Linux or anyother thing but BIOS, so the loading screens shoould appear. If they don't your LCD is broken.

Also this is the first time I hear about having to restart to be able to see the resolution changed. It should work right away. Sorry I'm off no other help.

well, i would be compeled to agree with you, but if the LCD did blow out, the external monitor should have worked...

if anything went wrong with the hardware, it would be the video card, but i dont believe thats the case, only because nothing suggests it, and interesting enough, there have been other people on forums like this with the same problem, only difference between me and them, is that they found a solution...