F9 installation problems

[Per Anton Ronning]

I bought the August '08 issue of Linux Format with an F 9
DVD.
I have also bought a new machine (made to order by an internet based 
vendor, and no op.sys. installed)
The installation procedure seemed to go OK, except for one thing:  I was 
not asked to create a user account.
 When rebooting after the "Congratulations" screen,  the PC stopped.
("Enabling /etc/fstab swaps" was the last [OK] message before it halted.)
My  22"  CHIMEI CMV223D LCD screen went black and the message "out of 
range" appeared, according to the vendor this means that it has got a 
signal which it is unable to process.
The display driver is NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT.

 From the Linux Format forum I got the tip to boot at runlevel 3, which 
I did, and then I reached the login prompt. Since the installation 
procedure did not ask me to specify a user name (blank was not 
recognized) I logged on to root. which went OK.  Now things seemed 
normal in character mode.
I typed "setup" and got a setup which included X.
I tried to configure, but the display driver models did not include 
CHIMEI  or CMV223D anywhere, so   then I thought I would have to try at 
random.
I did, and that went wrong. Now it does not find X11 at all.
(Lesson: Do not run experiments at random)
I guess I can take care of this by reinstalling F 9, if everything else 
fails.
I also have Fedora 5  (currently in production on the old PC)
and Fedora 7 which I have had for some time without using it. Any 
attempt to install these resulted in some BIOS error.
I have not yet heard from the vendor on these issues yet, I quess this 
was a bit outside their usual support stuff.

Does anyone know why I am not asked to create a user account?

Do I have to download and install   the NVIDIA driver for this card, or 
should it be present on the DVD?

Has anyone heard of the brand of screen that I have,
do I have to get a driver for it and install that?

Does anyone have a better idea as to  choice of a  F 9 DVD to install?
 

Thanks!

BRGDS
PAR