Hey, I recently installed Debian on a desktop PC but when it starts I can't see anything (the monitor say no signal). I don't have any idea or even a way to figure out what going on here since I can't see anything at all not even the console. Is there something that I missed in the install, or is it a compatibility problem?
The desktop PC specs are:
Did you install X11/Gnome/KDE? If so, Debian sometimes detects the default resolution incorrectly. You can try to access the console by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1. If that doesn't work try starting in single user mode, and change /etc/inittab to boot to runlevel 3 by default, instead of runlevel 5.
More information about configuring X11 can be found here.
Do you see POST when you turn on your PC ?
Is x11 installed by the first CD? If not which CD do I need? And also yes solaris user, I do see POST when the PC turns on.
I'm not sure if X11 is installed from the first CD (been a while since I used anything but netinst), but I would guess so.
One thing you can try is reboot the machine, and when the GRUB menu comes up, press 'e'. That will let you edit the boot entry. Now move down to the kernel line, press 'e' again, and remove the 'quiet' option if present, and add 'single' at the end. Press ESC, then 'b' to boot. You should see all kinds of diagnostic messages from the kernel and end up on a console in single user mode. Then use your preferred editor to change inittab as described earlier.
I have accessed the terminal using "Ctrl+Alt+F1" I am not good with terminal so I used a ubuntu LiveCD to edit the /etc/inittab file. By default the file used runlevel 2, since you implied that the default runlevel is 5, I changed it to 5 but that didn't work so I changed it to 3 but I continue to have the problem. What now?
If you really want to make a kernel, well... It would be in your interests to learn.
I am, in the process of learning but until I'm finished learning there somethings I don't know, one of them being how to edit a file in terminal. And besides it's not just me that's making the kernel you know
Could you post the complete contents of the /etc/inittab file? Because I know of no modern distribution that would boot to runlevel 2 (Multi-User, no network) by default.
If run level 2 is multi user, no network, there was an option that said something about setting up network, etc and I kinda just told it not to setup network, because I do not have a network connection on Linux. Maybe this cause it to use runlevel 2. I use a network adapter for network connection for which Linux does not provide a driver for. The contents of inttab are:
# /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
Debian is unusual in that runlevel 2 is the default for an OOTB install. In fact, for an OOTB install runlevels 2-5 are identical. See RunLevel - Debian Wiki
I know this is slightly off topic, but I also tried installing Slackware and at start up it says something about undefined video number: 305. Is there a trend in these errors? I installed ubuntu to see if other distros acted like the other two but it worked fine without startup errors. What is going on with debian and slackware?
Is the message you are getting more like:
undefined video mode number : 305, type space to continue, enter to chose one mode or wait 30 sec.
yes that's the one
why? does this imply something?
I already did that and couldn't find anything, hence the reason I'm asking here. Beside I that's not what I meant, I was talking about this:
Also, the only options I see are in the range of 80x60
They may be using basic VGA text consoles but Ubuntu probably boots into some sort of framebuffer. They couldn't bear to have anything less pretty. 
A text console is preferred over a framebuffer when possible I think -- faster, easier, cooperates better with other video drivers, and less finicky in general -- but it depends on the console modes the video card gives you, which sometimes aren't what you expected them to be. Especially in things like laptops.
Is there a way to change this?
Depends on your display device - what type of display device have you? Please supply FULL details.
I have an s3 trio32/64 video card with 2MB of video memory and a monitor that supports resolution up to 1024x768 32 bit. That is basically all I know, sorry if this still seems lacking. Also when I tried installing Antix (which is debian derived) I had the same problem until I appended the options "drvr=vesa AND res=800x600" but I tried these so far and they don't work.