f1-f6 tty's cause monitor input out of range error

I am running Linux Mint 12 with a desktop that has integrated nvidia graphics. Before enabling the graphics card driver, i was able to access the tty's with ctrl-alt-(f1-f6) no problem, but after the install the tty's go out of range with my monitor. In addition to that, coming back to the X window makes everything...screwy and i need to restart X.

Anyone know why this is happening or how to fix it?