Can you post your system specs, like your OS your graphics card and so on?
Gentoo Linux x86 (latest stable updates)
nVidia GeForce 8600GT (512 MB, PCI-e, with nvidia proprietary drivers (are there any good graphics cards with good free 3D drivers?))
Intel Dual Core CPU
2GB RAM
I did find that running the installer with --mode=text works. But I would think that being able run the GUI installer at the user's choice would be good.