can't get XFree86 to work

i've managed to install Mandrake Linux 8.2 right up to the X configuration step... the problem is, when i do a test of the settings, it doesn't work (blank screen) and it also doesn't dump me back to the install screen like it said it would after 10 seconds...

still, the installation's ok (except X of course)... i can boot linux into console (shell) mode so i was wondering how can i configure X and test that it works or not?

i'm fairly new to linux so please be gentle

That blank screen might be due to a limitation of your graphics card or monitor.... what are the specs for both of those on the computer in question?

thanks so much for replying!

my monitor is a Philips Brilliance 105 and the graphics card is an ATI XPERT 128 (Rage 128 chipset)...

the thing is, i got it to work with an older version of XFree86 (which came with Mandrake 8.0)... now i'm thinking one way could be for me to install the older version of Mandrake 8.0 and then upgrade it with 8.2, only not upgrading XFree86... the older version with Mandrake 8.0 is XFree86 4.0.3 (which worked)... do you foresee any problems with that?

or should i try to do a Xf86config first? i did try that but it didn't work too... is there a basic configuration that would almost definitely work?

thanks

After you try to start Xfree86 and it fails, what is the output in /var/log/XFree86.0.log? Particularly at the end of the log file. It should tell you where it failed even if it doesn't give you a reason why (which it should).

jaa

I had a similar problem with Mandrake 8.1 - sometimes it would just skip the X configuration altogether, and on boot it would keep respawning X to the point it disabled it.

Very annoying.