This happened to me (everything happened to me) the first time I tried to start FFVIII. It's your ISO.
The first time I tried to play FFVIII I took my psx disc and just copied the .ISO file I found on it onto my PC. I then converted that .ISO file into an EBOOT and KEYS and tried to play it. It showed the Sony symbol and then went black.
To fix this I inserted my psx disc again, but instead of just copying the .ISO file I found there, I made my own disc image using IsoBuster, it was like a disc image of a disc image.
I then converted that to an EBOOT and KEYS and it worked. So, basically, try again. Post if it still doesn't work.
^.^
-tt