X windows (linux) video screen corruption

[Wendell Buckner]

My Linux pc now boots and tries to "startx" immediately.  I believe it is attempting to 'probe' my video card and when it does this it corrupts the video screen.  It also aborts starting x leaving the screen corrupted.  I can see from key presses that it's dropped to the "console", but I still cannot make out the characters on the screen.    1) How can I keep the system from (starting x)? (boot disk maybe?) 2) Why is this probing of the ramdac causing my screen corruption (I'm using an ati vgawonder video card)?   I've spent all the time I can on it right now, but I'm hoping some can suggest some things that I can do to get my system going again!   By the way, I've only gotten this far due to this mailing list! I'm learning a lot from the just reading the mail and special thanks to those who have responded to my e-mails (pleas of help). I don't get respond immediately unfortunately so thanks for your help!   Shawn Shaleh Perry (responded to x windows question) Brandon Robinson (responded to x windows question) Gareth (responded to zip disk question) Brian Zervis (responded to zip disk question) Bren Cranston (responded to zip disk question) Nate (responded to zip disk question) Mark Wright (responded to zip disk question) Jeff Beley (responded to zip disk question) David Wright (responded to zip disk/insmod question)   The