Xorg 7.0 restarts on virtual console switch, vesafb flicker

[butters]

I have two problems with my Inspiron 500m with i855GM video, and I think they might be related. I use vesafb-tng from the archck patchset, since that's the only framebuffer that works on this POS Dell, and gensplash. When it first boots, the vesafb console looks beautiful as it should. Then I start X (Xorg 7.0) on tty7 with gdm. If I then switch back to a vesafb console on tty1-6, the text and splash image appear with flickers of red and blue pixel groups. Then when I attempt to switch back to tty7, the display goes black for a moment, then displays the vesafb console I was just viewing for a moment, then black again for another momement, and then X restarts, bringing me back to a gdm login prompt.

I tried just about every configuration change I could make with vesafb to eliminate the weird flickering colors, but nothing worked. Also, the vesafb consoles look perfect before I ever start X. I think that X is screwing up the video modes, which screws with the console and also causes it to reset itself. But I haven't the slightest clue how to further debug this.

The Xorg log looks normal, dmesg looks normal. Any ideas?
_________________
If tugboats were bigger, they'd be the ones getting tugged.

[Dr. Arbeitslos]

i experienced the same with an nvidia 6600gt (nvidia-driver) und kde-transparency enabled. x restarts while switching to vesa-tng-console. disabling kde-transparency helps.

[butters]

I'm not running KDE or any compositing manager here, just plain GNOME 2.14.

I did another fresh install and have the same problem. I'm still not completely sure if it's X corrupting the console and restarting itself, or if it's vesafb-tng screwing with X and corrupting the console. I know a lot of people running Gentoo with vesafb-tng and Xorg-7.0, none with i855GM video however, and none have the same problem. Ubuntu works great on my hardware, and I can even reopen the lid and the X console is there! As long as I've been using Linux on this laptop (2 years), I've always needed to CTRL-ALT-F1 CTRL-ALT-F7 after opening the lid. So... I know it's possible, but some configuration or Gentoo-specific patch (or lack of Ubuntu patches) is causing problems.

I don't like huge code listings in forums, so here's some nice links:

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jsaretsk/Xorg.0.log
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jsaretsk/dmesg.txt
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jsaretsk/xorg.conf
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jsaretsk/kernel.config

Anything look wrong?
_________________
If tugboats were bigger, they'd be the ones getting tugged.

[slithy]

I am also running vesa-tng with 2006.0 livecd theme and when kdm starts, I also get the flicker/corruptions on the bottom third of the screen for a second. Also happens when switching between xserver and tty, but I don't have any problems with X restarting. This didn't happen when I had no splash.