out of range

i have just had windows xp installed and bought myself stronghold 2 but when i try to play the game my monitor says out of range and goes dark. please help

Check your screen refresh rate. It might be set too high.

This usually has to do with the settings you have for the monitor, ie resolution or refresh rate.
Let me guess, you have an nvidia card, right? Nvidia software has a certain setting that automatically decides whats best for the applications, but sometimes screws it up by giving the wrong settings.
If this is the case, let us know. Otherwise, try reducing the refresh rate and/or resolution.

thanks the refresh rate was set to high

Thanks for posting back that too high refresh rate was the answer to your problem. Glad you got it fixed too. ;)