Problem summary:
Almost completely fresh Debian install won't display correctly.

Boot procedure:
Shows the grub2 menu correctly at 640x480 then shows the first 6 Linux kernel boot messages then switches resolution to 1920x1200 (monitor is capable) and the display is a messed up version of the grub2 menu including background picture and the 2 grub2 boot lines:
Loading Linux...
Loading Initial ramdisk...

System responsiveness:
I can switch from the x display to the virtual terminals the resolution changes to 1920x1200 for the gnome login screen, and 640x480 for the virtual terminals.
I can connect to the ssh server and run commands, install software etc...

Changes from completely fresh:
Added GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="video=VGA-1:640x480" to /etc/default/grub
Installed openssh-server after putting hdd in another computer, which boots and runs it just fine... :/

I'm not familiar with the video=VGA....kernel command-line params.
First, if that switch is not absolutely necessary for your video card, do this:

1. Remove the video=... param from GRUB_CMLINE_LINUX
2. Uncomment and set GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768
3. Add GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
4. Run update-grub
5. Reboot and see if it makes any difference.

GRUB_GFXMODE sets the graphics mode for the GRUB boot menu
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX sets the graphics mode for the framebuffer. The setting 'keep' sets it to the same as that set by GRUB_GFXMODE.

If I recall correctly, the highest framebuffer mode is 1600x1200, which might explain the corrupt framebuffer display.

You can check the VESA modes your card is capable of from the GRUB command line with:

I tried your configuration change, unfortunately without success. The grub menu displayed flawless at the given resolution but still only the remains of the grub boot menu displayed shortly after Linux booted:
Grub menu at 1024x768:
http://imgur.com/lGM1b
Gnome login Screen at 1920x1200:
http://imgur.com/b9Yt1
switching to a virtual terminal produces no difference from the login screen. :/


When I had "video=VGA-1:640x480" in GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX the gnome login kinda worked, a short time after the corrupt display at 1920x1200:
http://imgur.com/y6fkY
and the virtual terminal in the same boot:
http://imgur.com/SVXLC

What video hardware do you have?
You may try disabling KernelModeSetting with a suitable addition to the 'kernel' grub line (what, will depend on your card)

I tried booting in recovery mode and it actually displays something... It spams the top few lines in the following pictures about 1,000 times on top of the broken display from before:
Full screen: http://imgur.com/BiXzL
if that's unclear here's closer views:
top half: http://imgur.com/WXvRH
bottom half: http://imgur.com/FqWEX

I'm not really sure... I actually got it from the previous owners of the house when we moved in who had left it behind in the garage stripped of an hdd...
let me just see if i can find something on it... it's just really dusty... *crawls into the side of the dusty case* ... *cough! cough!* ... *gets lost for a minute in the cobwebs* :/ ... *crawls back out* ok! hmm.... :/

I don't see any distinguishing markings other than "1998 STB SYSTEMS INC."
http://imgur.com/amcEr
http://imgur.com/WRTz0

but i'm pretty sure it's the stock card that came with the computer. it's a dell dimension xps t700...
i'm seeing "STB NVidia TNT2" when i search google... but the card doesn't say nvidia anywhere on it... :/

i'm willing to continue helping to find a solution to this problem but for the moment i've found better than a solution to my problem... i've got another agp gfx card from a newer dell computer that works perfectly in the system. =D

Good news, do that.

That looks like a TNT2 to me, and I've seen a lot of them.

TNT2s have issues with big widesceen resolutions, and the video quality once you go over 1280x1024/1600x1200 (depending on your eye and the model) is pretty horrid. Later geforce cards support widescreen better, and have nicer image quality when you are pushing high resolutions.

+1

... amd I came across a dead one of those cards at the bottom of a drawer just the other day

i'm actually planning on running this computer without a monitor at all, as a gateway to my home network to try to alleviate the constraints of our current router's cpu with high active connection count with high transfer rate. right now i was just trying to us it to display on my second monitor the gentoo installation manual.

so is there an easy way to make it start with a lower resolution for the desktop and vt? say 1024x768?

Oh! Nvm... :/ it still doesn't display the virtual terminals correctly.... even with the newer card, this is what i get for the vts:
http://imgur.com/weIJK
it almost looks like it's being drawn with the wrong width, so the computer starts drawing the next row of pixels before the monitor is on the next row.... and it looks like it responds correctly when i type something in... it's just horribly unreadable.

but as you can see the desktop works correcly, i'm now using it to respond here and look at the gentoo install manual.

the card is an nvidia p162 as best as i can tell... it's the stock card from a dell dimension 8300.

Please post the output of so that we can determine which card that actually is.

Output:
i just rebooted and the problem disappeared... and i haven't changed anything... the virtual terminals just work now... :/ and now they don't again...

with the older card there was another pci card connected to it with a 2x13 pin ribbon cable just like a PATA HDD cable, when i removed that card the virtual terminals display text but with the background still with remnants of the boot menu background image...
the lspci output for the older video card is:
if i leave the other card in the system, but remove the ribbon cable the same problem happens, corrupt vt
the lspci output for the other card is:
front: http://imgur.com/9lNmn
back: http://imgur.com/kdZgc
panel: http://imgur.com/IlgPj
the ribbon cable that connected this card to the old video card was labeled dvd on this card's end, and video on the video card's end...

but now the virtual terminals aren't displaying correctly again even without the other card... :/

Maybe just keep changing stuff randomly until it works then ...

Remove the 'Cinemaster C 3.0 DVD Decoder' and the RIVA TNT, shove the FX 5200 in there. Clear the CMOS (or remove the battery if you dont know how to clear the CMOS and dont want to learn).

Boot up, go into the BIOS, fix the mess that clearing the CMOS/battery removal always makes, save it, get out of the BIOS, and boot up the OS.

hey hey hey hey.... i'm not changing things randomly... the guidelines for lq clearly state that i shouldn't just be sitting here refreshing the page waiting for a response, but trying myself to get things working.