Good morning!

I was successful in my attempt to achieve a W2K/RH9 dual boot last night, but my joy turned to sorrow when I attempted to change my screen resolution.

I have a Radeon 7500 video card.

When I installed Red Hat, I set the resolution at 256 colors, 640x480, in order to avoid any trouble.

However, once I was sure RH9 was indeed working properly, I tried to change this to 16k colors (or whichever the next step up us), 1024x768.

Now, when X Windows starts up, the screen goes black.

I know this has come up before, but I don't understand exactly how to fix this!

If anyone has a solution, please do not assume I know how to use GRUB -- I need, if possible, step-by-step assistance.

Thank you so very much for your help!

Richard

At first guess, I'd say that your monitor isn't setup properly in your XF86Config. You might need to define the mode that you're running.

What type of monitor, and can you post your XF86Config?

Monitor is a Dell UltraScan P780.

What is my x86config ...?

As I mentioned in my first post, I know very little at this point.

Where would I find this info?

XF86Config is the graphics config file for your monitor and video card. It tells X how to "talk" to your card and monitor, so to speak.

It should be in /etc/X11, type "cat /etc/X11/XF86Config"

I also found a link discussing your monitor:

http://www.mepis.org/node/view/1776

You'll need to know the horizontal/vertical refresh rates (and a handful of other things) for your monitor. You can start the X configurator by typing

redhat-config-xfree86

Good luck.

Seventh,

Thank you for your help.

However, I don't know how to get to a command line other than booting through X.

How do I even get to where you are sending me, if my screengoes black every time I start up?

Thanks ~ I just need a swift shove in the right direction, and I should be ok...

Richard

CTRL-ALT-F2/3/4/5/ (etc) will get you to command line terminals.

I believe F7 is the default for windowed mode, when ya want to get back.

Seventh,

I'm sorry, I just don't get it -- when do I hit CTRL-ALT-F2 ?

Thanks...

Richard

Hello,

If someone has a moment, can you explain to me how to do what Seventh has advised me to do?

Thank you!

Richard

When your system boots up to the blank screen, that's X loading but not knowing how to "Talk" to your monitor.

At that point, you _should_ (assuming the system is indeed booting) be able to hit crtl-alt-F2/3/4 (etc) and get to a text based login. Think of it as alt-tab in windows.

Seventh,

No, this does not work!

After it goes black, there is nothing I can do, no how!

Oh please, someone help!

I have come so far, I do not want to give up now!

does your GRUB have a failsafe mode?
this is basically linux without X
single-user mode is what it's called

scuzzman,

I don't know what you mean.

Can you explain?

What is GRUB, and how do I get to it?

Hello,

Can someone please explain to me how to get this installation to work?

Obviously I am too much of a novice to understand any of the advice I have been given.

How do I get to a command line BEFORE the screen goes black?

HOW?

Thanks to anyone who can give me advice/instruction that I can understand...

Richard

Does anything at all come up? What, exactly, happens when you turn your computer on. Is there any text at all?

It will either say LILO or GRUB right when you start up (once it's past the bios), that's your boot loader.

This leads me to believe that something is not happy with your setup. If you just get a black screen and you can't switch terminals away from X, something's wrong. :\

You might want to consider reinstalling, finding the specs for your monitor and making sure you put them in exactly right when you go through setup.

Specifically the Horizontal and Vertical refresh.

(get a second opinion before you do though )