Console Issues

[John Seth]

I'm curious if anyone else runs linux w/o installing X and has run into
a problem similar to mine.  Normally, I run linux as a server, and don't
install X, or, as in the case of my personal system here at home, a dual
boot Win2K Pro w/ RH Linux 8.0.  Here's a quick breakdown:

Intel PIII 933 w/ 576MB RAM
NVidia GeForce 2 MX/400 64MB (no tv/out, made by PNY Technologies)
Primary boot is Win2K
Secondary boot is RedHat Linux 8.0 (recently upgraded from RH 7.3)
ASUS CUVX-E Socket 370 Motherboard
Delta DC-77 (17" MGC Monitor)

Problem:
Booting into linux, it displays the initrd message and then the screen
goes black... no text, no kernel messages, nothing (there's is a faint
glow, so it's not the monitor going off). This has started happening
since I updated RedHat 7.3, and continued into a fresh install of 8.0.
Thinking it was something in RH's config's or perhaps the VGA console
modes, I tinkered with grub (i dislike lilo since it thinks 90% of my
hard drives are over the limit for installing on the MBR of my main HD).
While waiting for RH to release a fix, or to hear others post responses
on various boards to this same question, I kept tinkering. Nothing. Only
a few responses saying I must be mistyping "vga = normal"... I've tried
that and my normal 'vga = 773'...

So after having entered "vga = normal" various times and in different
configurations, I've come up empty handed.  Apparently it's not just RH,
my Slackware 8.0 & 8.1 did the same thing, and since systems like
Slackware boot directly into the console, you have to blindly log in,
then type startx (hoping you typed it all corrrectly).  X would load and
then after quitting X, my console is back to normal.  I have RH 8 set to
load directly into Gnome and then I can drop it back into the console if
I want.

My guess is it's something with the kernel, or with some frame buffering
thing having to do with NVidia cards... anyone else have this issue?
What is the scoop with NVidia and linux framebuffering ? Links to valid
discussions on this frame-buffering issue are welcome if it's true. Does
anyone else know of a work around?  I tried recompiling the kernel, but
apparently I'm recompiling the same features in, as it's not fixing my
problem. I like X, but I can maneuver around without just as easily...
I'd rather not have to boot into X to get my console if I don't really
want to.

Thanks,

      Tony