When I ctrl-alt-f1 I get nothing but a black blank screen......HELP!

[markjs]

Making it imposssible to install my vidcard drivers.....

[royper]

Try to execute init 3 in a terminal.

[markjs]

being a complete noob I have zero idea what you mean!

[markjs]

Ok I did do thast but it had no effect

[bigtomrodney]

Can you post the contents of your /etc/inittab please?

[markjs]

# /etc/inittab: init(8) configuration.
# $Id: inittab,v 1.91 2002/01/25 13:35:21 miquels Exp $

# The default runlevel.
id:2:initdefault:

# Boot-time system configuration/initialization script.
# This is run first except when booting in emergency (-b) mode.
si::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcS

# What to do in single-user mode.
~~:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin

# /etc/init.d executes the S and K scripts upon change
# of runlevel.
#
# Runlevel 0 is halt.
# Runlevel 1 is single-user.
# Runlevels 2-5 are multi-user.
# Runlevel 6 is reboot.

l0:0:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 0
l1:1:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 1
l2:2:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 2
l3:3:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 3
l4:4:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 4
l5:5:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 5
l6:6:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 6
# Normally not reached, but fallthrough in case of emergency.
z6:6:respawn:/sbin/sulogin

# What to do when CTRL-ALT-DEL is pressed.
ca:12345:ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t1 -a -r now

# Action on special keypress (ALT-UpArrow).
#kb::kbrequest:/bin/echo "Keyboard Request--edit /etc/inittab to let this work."

# What to do when the power fails/returns.
pf::powerwait:/etc/init.d/powerfail start
pn::powerfailnow:/etc/init.d/powerfail now
po::powerokwait:/etc/init.d/powerfail stop

# /sbin/getty invocations for the runlevels.
#
# The "id" field MUST be the same as the last
# characters of the device (after "tty").
#
# Format:
#  <id>:<runlevels>:<action>:<process>
#
# Note that on most Debian systems tty7 is used by the X Window System,
# so if you want to add more getty's go ahead but skip tty7 if you run X.
#
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1
2:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty2
3:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty3
4:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty4
5:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty5
6:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty6

# Example how to put a getty on a serial line (for a terminal)
#
#T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100
#T1:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS1 9600 vt100

# Example how to put a getty on a modem line.
#
#T3:23:respawn:/sbin/mgetty -x0 -s 57600 ttyS3

[bigtomrodney]

It seems you are running in init level 2, which is a normal for Debian. What desktop environment are you running - Gnome, KDE...?

What happens when you try ctrl+alt+F2, ctrl+alt+F3 etc?

[markjs]

Gnome, and when I hit ctrl-alt-f<anything> it results in a black, blank screen from which the only escape is a ctrl-alt-delete

[markjs]

The thing I am wondering is is it because this vidcard has two digital outputs? perhaps it's my ATI 650 TV Wonder card, or perhaps the Sceptre 19" LCD monitor having issues, because it did this same thing in Fedora 6 and 7 only it could never get to X so I scrapped Fedora and went with Debian which at least works.....

[iwanabeguru]

try a blind login
change back to X
and run the who command in a terminal

if you see a line in the output which contain ttyX coloumn you can login just can't see anything , maybe your terminal colours is black on black