Installing Fedora 12 with nVidia - Blank screen
 

I know there are a lot of posts about using nvidia drivers and configuring the display, and I have done that succesfully once.

Here's my problem now;
Doing a complete fresh install (new hd not even partitioned yet)
Boot up with the F12 DVD and after the auto boot my monitor goes blank with "No Signal".

Some hardware info
Asus A8N-SLI Premium motherboard
4G RAM
Nvidia 9500 GT (have 2, but was instructed to try install with just one first)

To be honest, I'm not sure any more info is needed for this, but what I did before was install using basic graphics and then couldn't get high resolotion to work at all.

The really funny thing is, the very first time I installed F12 I had NO problems.. high resolution and had the right video drivers installed afterward.

So, what would be stopping me now?

Any help would be appreciated, I really want a working linux to work with.

Nothing wrong
 

I would bet your doing nothing wrong..

Questions:

1. are you using the same physical media for this installation?
2. have you tried a LIVECD
I have had better results with livecd, then just do a yum -y update

then either run yumex or start installing the packages you want using yum.

I think its better to get a working intallation then install your packages then using the DVD's. Also, you can install the LIVECD images to USB sticks < 1GB easily using the fedora liveusb-creator utility for either linux or windows

To answer your qestions

1. Yes, same media (although re-written on a DVD-RW)
2. Will try the live version next

Thank you for yur reply.

blank screen
 

All my linux machines run NVIDiA, and in general, i have had near zero problems, especially since NVIDIA when "kinda open source".... I use AKMODS here, but since your problem is a new installation, i don't really know what to tell you.

When does the screen go blank? Do you get to the graphic anaconda installer?

or do you loose it after a complete installation?

Floyd

I'm glad you asked that.

After the very first installation (that went well) I would get the anaconda install only in basic drivers.

This time specifically, I will get the "Auto boot in x seconds" screen, and then it would go black with no signal.

I still see the light for activity on the dvd drive but with no video I can't say how far it goes, so anaconda could be running.

Previous attempts with F 11 will only allow basic drivers, and then X wouldln't even start so it would put me in text mode. The perplexing thing here is why would the first time work flawlessly and then never again? :)

(About to try the live cd in a few minutes)

Reinstalling on the same system

The original install was actually stable, I decided to re-install Windows as a stand alone system (first install of F12 was dual boot). The original intent was to virtualize windows in Xen or KVM, but I found out my cpu won't do it.

This time I'm dedicating a hard drive solely to Fedora. This attempt won't even have my other drives attached for the install.

What really bugs me is I'm using F11 at school and it works great! I like having the newest version of things and I KNOW F12 works.. it's just playing with me.

Update:
Even the Live CDs give me a blank screen (tried both i686 and x96_64)

Have you got the rpmfusion-free and rpmfusion-nonfree repos enabled? This is where you will find the nvidia drivers for your setup. (have a look at rpmfusion.org)

This is before any options for partitioning, screen, language etc are available.

Boot w. CD/DVD: Auto Boot in 10 sec: Blank Screen

or

Boot w/ CD/DVD: Hit enter to get menu: Tab and enter noapic (for my system): Hit enter: Blank Screen

If it would even go through the installation I would be able to install the drivers, as I've done that before on a previous install that worked.
(don't ask how the first one worked and the subsequent tries don't hehe)

Sorry, misunderstood your problem. Have you tried installing in text mode or using the xdriver=vesa boot option?

Have a look at http://docs.fedoraproject.org/install-guide/f12/en-US/html/s1-guimode-textinterface-x86.html and http://docs.fedoraproject.org/instal...n-options.html for a list of boot options.

I tried both and even text mode gives me a blank screen.

I did notice something, I think anaconda has changed since the first image I used gave a "Use basic driver" option and this one doesn't.

The first time I installed F12 the options were: Install and Upgrade, Use Basic Video Drivers, etc etc

This time when I cancel the auto boot, the options are Boot, Test Memory, etc etc, no option to use basic drivers.

Is that a new kernel? Because now that I think about it, that is before anaconda loads correct?

I'm not sure what's going on here, but I am starting to suspect hardware problems. Have you tried booting with a different distro, perhaps System Rescue CD? You may also try to boot your media on some other machine to verify that the media is ok.

I'm going to try switching my cards and if that fails I'll try an older card.
Failing that I'll try burning a new disc just in case the media is messed up.

Again, the biggest puzzle is how did it complete with no problems the first time :)

If you have two cards, you need to use "BusID" in xorg.conf's "Device" section. Have you checked if you have a signal from the second card instead? Do you maybe even have an onboard video as well?

You may need to remove the second card to have video during the installation. Edit your xorg.conf file adding the bus address for the card device, and then reinstall the second card and run "nvidia-settings" as root, saving your changes.