JumpyClip,

I had an older system, still runs, but, running off the Live CD of Knoppix, I had to use the cheat codes to get a "visible" monitor.

My situation:
ATI All-In-Wonder Video Card,
ViewSonic ViewPanel VA700

boot: knoppix screen=1024x768 vrefresh=60

My problem was, the last thing showing on the monitor, just BEFORE the "out of sync" message from my monitor, was the "X Server" information, which is displayed as the X Window Server is starting up.

Hope this helps,