Hi, I have tried numerous ways of installing the nVidia driver and all seem to point to a black screen when I try to activate and test the settings using Sax2.. i installed the driver by using YOU, went into Sax2 after and rather stupidly I didn't test the configuration.. so when i rebooted I couldn't see my desktop or anything, so i fixed this by resetting Sax2 by command line.. i was then advised to try installing the .run package from nvidia's site, so i did this by using "init 3" and the installation wizard built a new kernel module for some reason.. it all seemed to be going alright and it informed me to boot into Sax2 afterwards.. so this is what I did and "3D Acceleration" is greyed out and when i press Test i just get a black screen again. is there a parameter that i need to change in the Sax2 Options.. fyi i have an nVidia 6800GT and a Benq FP91G.. can anyone help?

Use the new NVIDIA utility: nvidia-xconfig.

ok, i uninstalled the driver and re-installed using the shell and saw the nvidia splash screen after completion.. everything seemed to be working alright, i typed in glxinfo into the terminal and direct rendering is on.. i also noticed the nvidia X server settings had been added to the KDE Start Menu.. after a restart I have a black screen again, in which i need to restart again and select Failsafe.. when i type in "init 5" and enter, i get a black screen again but if i press Ctrl + Alt and Backspace, the logon screen re-appears and everything works again.. of course, until i next reboot.. is there something else i need to change?

Dunno! Check GDM or KDM preferences.

waahh?

OK, i checked KDM and i couldnt see anything affiliated to my graphics card.. just a bunch of wallpaper and language settings.. shall i post my XORG.CONF file or something? i'm really lost here, dunno what file im supposed to be looking at as i always find two when searching

Is the NVIDIA card you only card? Sometimes a second onboard card could interfere. In this case it may help to de-activate it in the BIOS. And did you run sax2 like they recommend with sax2 -m 0=nvidia?

no i didnt, thats a good point..

yep it's my only card, dont have an onboard.. do u think i'll have to reinstall and do the "sax2 -m 0=nvidia" command?

Don't reinstall, just run sax with the above parameter.

i tried that.. tested the configuration and it displayed fine.. so i saved it, did a restart and i get a blank screen again..

Do you get error messages (EE) in /var/log/Xorg.0.log?

nope.. it's really weird.. once ive got my desktop up it runs fine, i can run glxgears and tuxracer.. so the driver is working fine, but as soon as I reboot, my monitor becomes inactive with "No Signal".. which is odd cos when i test it with Sax2 it works fine..

You mean it's only black during boot, but as soon as X starts, the screen comes back?

In this case it may be the framebuffer driver that causes the trouble. Try changing the vga= parameter in /boot/grub/menu.lst according to this table:
I don't know if there is a specific nvidia framebuffer driver, but I think the vesa driver should do.

No, its the opposite... i can see the whole boot process but when X starts the screen goes black (it's almost like the refresh rate or resolution is out of range, but on Sax2 i tested the attributes and it worked fine).. i can hear the logon sounds and everything.

the only way I can view X is when i boot into failsafe and type in "init 5".. the screen goes black again but if i press Ctrl + Alt and Backspace, the logon screen returns and everything is back to normal.. i havent a clue whatt happens.. but when i restart, i just get the same again

When you ran the sax2 configuration, did you change the monitor settings? Maybe this needs to be tweaked as well. In the worst case, delete your xorg.conf and run the configuration from scratch. Maybe it's a good idea to post the config anyway. Sorry that I can't be more specific. Sounds too weird.