After installing FS2 I only get a blank black screen whenever starting the game. It just doesn't react to any inputs and the screen stays black! Anyone a suggestion what could be the cause and how I could repair it?

Did you made sure that you have the latest video driver installed? With the latest version of the directx as well.
It looks like a video issue.

While it isn't the Freespace 2 but it previous incarnation but I've encountered the same problem. I've solved it by running the game in win95/98 compatibility mode (my rig has is XP sp3).

Thx for your suggestions. The graphic drivers were not the problem. The tip of running in win95/98 compatibility mode did not solve the problem directly but led to a solution I found by accident. While testing different settings for compatibility mode I found that pressing enter at the black screen after start produced the desktop again. The game showed up in the task list apparently running. I then accidentally forgot to kill the current instance and startet the game again ... and voila it worked. Need to start it *twice* and have *two* instances running simultaneously. So this is not what I would regard a "solution" I would call it "workaround". But ... better than nothing. Is there someone here from the gog guys who could explain this to me? Are there other users experiencing this? Do you have a clue what the problem could be?