[myrison]

Display and audio. Currently using a CRT PC monitor - not sure it has audio?? I'm trying to get everything working before migrating it into the living room - although at this stage, I don't see my Xbox being replaced anytime soon.

Re: setting it up in another room and then moving, that probably won't work (well) because when you first set up the NVidia drivers, they are going to set up a configuration based on the display that is connected at the time. If you later switch, it MIGHT work, but it also might create more 'drama,' like you mentioned . In fact, given that a CRT monitor isn't likely going to support standard TV resolutions and it's going to be an RGB connection vs. a later HDMI or DVI connection (I'm assuming?), you might have better luck doing the final install in the living room as opposed to on your CRT first. I'd consider trying the install there if I were you just to try something else 'simple' before going into really detailed troubleshooting on your CRT only to have it not work in your main watching room.

I'm booting straight into the GUI. After trying your guide, booting into the GUI failed like I said. I'm going back and trying it one step at a time.

What I meant to ask in my previous post was... if you start from scratch and you stop my instructions after step 5 & 6, did it boot successfully to the GUI at this point?

5. Once the install completes, remove the XBMCFreak Live CD/USB and boot to wherever you installed the Dharma Beta.
6. If you are using Analog audio, everything pretty much works out of the box (it did for me at least). If you need HDMI audio, read on.

Knowing this much would confirm whether it's a problem with the updated drivers or something else. Either way though, I'd try installing with it connected to the TV you want to use to see if it works there.

It could of course all fail again, in which case I'm going to say you really have horrible luck, but I think it's worth a shot.