boot device screen is blank

so, i just finished reinstalling xp on my compy, well two xp os's on two separate hard drives... but now when i press f8 to go to the boot device screen, it is blank. it still works, if i go 'down, down, enter' to select my second hard drive, but i cant see what im doing.
otherwise my video card seems to be working fine. i get the motherboard screen, and i watch the xp loading screen, but that one screen just doesnt show up.
any ideas?
i tried my best to google it, but havent found anyone with the same problem.
thanks in advance