Black screen - can't change resolution or start games

[MorLipf]

Hi,

 

A few days ago I built my new system, installed Windows and all works fine.

On my second harddrive there was an old Gentoo Linux installation which I wanted to reactivate. So I booted up with my Gentoo 2005.1 LiveCD and installed the Grub bootmanager into the MBR of the first harddrive. After that I booted Windows XP again. Now the problems begun. The Marvell Yukon Ethernet-Adapter was not working. It says it has no cable inserted. I could solve this by clearing the CMOS.

 

I went into Bios, set all settings to it's old values and booted Linux. But the graphical interface wasn't working very well. The attempt to open a programm crashed the computer with a coloured screen. I pushed the reset button and booted Windows.

 

Severel programs were showing up errors that they can't start. Changing the screen resolution results in a black screen. The monitor goes in standby mode. Half-Life 2 doesn't start anymore - black screen. Even a reinstall of Windows XP and a clear cmos (30 minutes) couldn't help. What's wrong?

 

All drivers are up to date.

 

 

MorLipf

[StephenC]

A few things. When you reinstalled XP did you do a format of the entire drive? Also If you are running Gentoo from I live cd, whay do you need to add the bootloader to your PC?

[MorLipf]

I've formated the first harddrive. The second harddrive (with Linux) still exists.

I booted with the LiveCD to reinstall the boot manager, because I want to be able to boot Linux. Windows overwrites the boot manager with it's own.

 

 

Edit: Maybe I solved it! I've read in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (really new article, it has been published on 27 of July) that there is a Windows / nVidia Bug which causes this black screen. Solution: Disable Antialiasing. This is the first time a Microsoft help solves my problem. :shake:

[StephenC]

OK, Windows as you know does not like to be installed last. Maybe you will need to start from the beginning with this. Install XP first. Then your Linux distro. Oh one more question....Was XP playing right before you installed the bootloader?

[MorLipf]

Yes, it was working right. But now it's seems to work again. Windows and it's bugs...

Firstable I thought the problems were caused by the motherboard. Now I can say it seems that it isn't the causer of my problem.

[StephenC]

Cool

[MorLipf]

Hmm... I googled a bit and I didn't found other people who has the same problem as me. And suddenly Windows freezes on the desktop when the computer was idling. No input was possible. Very strange...