Arak

Hello, This is my second distribution i've worked with. Yeah, i guess you could say i am a 'newb'. I came from mephis and with that program i was used to having to update 'things' (i don't know what they're called), or packages with a program called 'Synaptic'. Once i installed these certain programs i could install the Nvidia driver. My question is not about the actual install of nvidia (cause i know how to do it) but about how to prepare my system so i can update. When i try to install it, it tells me i'm missing some programs. Could someone kind of walk me through what i need to do to get this going? Thanks

Great news, i got it to work finally. It was the vesa setting. It was in the display setting (as you said) and then under Xorg. I imagine once i get the Nvidia drivers going all will be well. Thank you all for helping me. Although i've practically spent the whole weekend doing this, i've finally come to the light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you

Someone also suggested adding some words (don't recall what they were) to the boot. Would that help and if so, how do i do it? Thanks

Thanks for the reply, i appreciate all the help i can get. I did as you advised and changed my video card (many times) and each time i got the same result. When i hit the test button it went to a grey screen (where i had control of the mouse). I'm wondering if i should download the nvidia driver, burn it to a cd then physically copy it from the cd to the hard drive and then install it from the command. Is that possible? I had to do that with Mephis and i can do it. I just don't know how to copy from a cd to the hard drive. Well, that's assuming it works. Let me know, I can't wait to get this up and running. p.s. What is the difference between the free versions of Mandrake 2007 and the ones you can buy?

I must be blind. I've searched it from top to bottom and i cannot find it. Is there another way?

Thanks for the help! I tried to do all of that when the screen was blue but there was no response. I can still move the mouse around, though. The only way i was able to enter in the 'mcc' command was when it asked me if i wanted to try the failsafe method. It took me to a command prompt and from there i was able to enter into it. There was nothing about changing it to vesa but i tinkered with a few things with the video card settings. Now instead of a blue screen i have a gray screen (i can move the mouse here as well). The text goes by so quickly that there is no way for me to see it. I don't see anything that says failed. Just so you know, once i enter in my user information and password (and it will only let me on the second option when it boots because the first is garbled), that's where i get stuck. Ctrl-alt-backspace doesn't work at all nor does CTRL-ALT-F1. I personally believe it does have something to do with a video driver because when i removed the second video card, i was able to at least see something.

Have you tried adding nopinit and noacpi to your kernel options before you boot? I have to do this with my system, or it hangs. How do you do that? I think i added those two options right. I found where i can add them but it still does the same thing. Once i enter in my username and password, a little ring appears around the mouse pointer (which i can still move) and then it sits at the blue screen. Any other suggestions?

Have you tried adding nopinit and noacpi to your kernel options before you boot? I have to do this with my system, or it hangs. How do you do that?

I have tried the verbose mode. It will scroll through everything and then the screen will go blank for a moment and then turn to a blue screen. However, i suspected that my dual video cards might be causing the problem so i removed one of them. Oddly, i was able to get just a little past where i had gotten before. Now instead of a blue screen, i get a blue screen with garbled text in a white box. If i choose the second option i get a login screen (which looks kind of buggy). I can type in my username and password but that's as far as it gets. I made just a little bit more progress. I imagine i am close to getting into Mandriva. Any ideas? Thanks!

Hello, i've used other linux distributions before but this is my first time trying mandriva. I am still rather new at linux (windows free for 3 months) so i'm by no means an expert. Mandriva 2007 installs just fine. When i reboot, it will show it's little screen asking me to select: Linux linux-nonfb failsafe If i select the first two options, it will end in the same place (the first doesn't show text), which is a blue screen. I've let it sit for five minutes and still, nothing. If i choose the failsafe option, i get this message: Telling INIT to go to single user mode. INIT: Going single user sh-3.1# I have reinstalled this program, probably, over a dozen times selecting different options. I have selected high and low resolutions, KDE and Gnome. I have 3 hard drives, 2 maxtor 100 gig SATA drives (i've installed it with them raided, non-raided, and completely removed) and another hard drive that is about 250 gigs. I've installed it and each time it's the same thing. I have no idea what it could be. Here is what i have in my system. Athalon 64 dual core +3800 A8N-SLI Premium 2 Nvidia 7800 GT cards (SLI) Creative Labs Audigy 2 zs platinum sound card That's what i can remember off the top of my head. Please, any help would be appreciated.