monitor looses signal from graphics card during boot

[techno-mole]

im trying to run knoppix, basically so i can see what a linux based operating system is like as im thinking of changing from windows xp.
ive burnt the image to disc and it runs fine up to a point, it gets as far as the configuring devices (theres a little green bar that fills up) and then my monitor pings off and i get a little box that comes up saying out of range, meaning the frequency settings i think.
so my question is how do i sort it out ? is it something to do with the hardware ? or is it that knoppix is trying to display in a set of resolutions and frequencies my monitor cant support ? anyway my system specs are below, and any help will be appricated cheers.
Amd athalon 3200 64 bit (2.1 ghz)
ecs nforce 3 motherboard.
1.2 gb ddr 400 ram.
nvidia ge force 7600 gs 256 mb agp card.
samsung sata drive (80 gb)
via envy sound card (pci)
im running xp 64 bit (maybe this is the problem ?)
i have a 650 watt psu.
a dvd re writer and a cd re writer.
all drivers are up to date, xp is also up to date.
any help will be appricated, and can any one recomend a linux based operating system ? like opensuse that kind of thing, or similar cheers.

[Harry Kuhman]

Please see answer #7.

[techno-mole]

appologies for the title of my post, i have searched through these forums and have not as yet found anything that specifically helps with the problem i am having, i will continue to search, but i though it might be worth posting in case its not a usual type of problem, as in maybe its something to do with my hardware and such like.
again appologies.

[Harry Kuhman]

Thanks for fixing the subject line.

It does sound more likely that Knoppix is trying to use a video setting outside the range of the monitor than not sending any video. You didn't say what the monitor is, knowing its specs will be important as you proceed.

Try looking at the cheat codes section of the wiki, or better yet the cheat codes file that comes down with a torrent download (and I'm guessing its there on the mirrors too) and force the card to something you know the monitor will accept, paying attention to both pixels and scan rate (my guess is it's a scan rate issue).

It is not a xp64 issue nor a amd 64 issue. Knoppix runs fime on the AMD 64 (the standard version isn't optomized for the 64 bit cpu, but it still runs fine. There is a remaster that uses a 64 bit kernel as well) and Knoppix doesn't care what version of windows you have installed, or even if you have it installed at all.

[techno-mole]

the monitor is just a standard crt, i normally run it on 1152 by 864 at 75 hz i did try lowering the frequency and reolution but no joy, ill have another look at the settings, and see what happens.
ok now this will sound stupid but what exactly do the cheat codes do ?
ok i think you are right, if the cheat codes are a set of info as to what knoppix is doing then, its trying to display at 1280 by 1024, which is ok, until it trys to do it at 80 hz and thats where the monitor goes ping.
cheers for the help.

[Harry Kuhman]

now this will sound stupid but what exactly do the cheat codes do ?

cheat codes bypass some of the normal hardware detection and choices the Knoppix makes at boot time with your own choice of settings. See the wiki write-up on cheat codes.

[techno-mole]

well ive tried various codes and adjusted my monitor settings and i still can get it to run on my system, ive run the disc on my other halfs pc and it worked fine, although i got it in german.
next question is when do you enter the codes ? ive tried intputing the code when it says boot, but i get an error, ive also tried during the load up when it detects hardware and so on.
any ideas ?

[Harry Kuhman]

although i got it in german.

sounds like you may have downloaded the wrong iso; ones with DE in the name will default to German, ones with EN in the name will default to English. See the downloading faq for more details. There is a cheat code to force a language, but there is a small catch, there is an = in the code, and the = is in a different place on the German keyboard layout, so it may take a little effort to find it. Can be done though.

next question is when do you enter the codes ? ive tried intputing the code when it says boot, but i get an error, ive also tried during the load up when it detects hardware and so on.
any ideas ?

I though that was well covered in the faq, so I didn't retype the info here. There is one prompt during the boot. You can type the desired code or codes there. I like to type F2 at this point, it stops the automatic countdown if you do nothing, and shows some helpful information. You can then put together whatever cheat code string you want.