On Thursday 22 April 2010 17:47:23 Grant wrote:
> >>> Could this be the problem?
> >>>
> >>> # grep ^\(EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log
> >>> (EE) Failed to load module "vesa" (module does not exist, 0)
> >>> (EE) Failed to load module "fbdev" (module does not exist, 0)
> >>> (EE) intel(0): [drm] Failed to open DRM device for : No such file or
> >>> directory
> >>> (EE) intel(0): Failed to become DRM master.
> >>> (EE) intel(0): Failed to initialize kernel memory manager
> >>
> >> The first two errors are fine; Xorg defaults to trying vesa and fbdev as
> >> display drivers and you just don't have them.
> >>
> >> The last three are your problem.  The intel video driver is unable to
> >> properly access the DRM subsystem, which will definitely cause X to slow
> >> to a crawl.
> >>
> >> The most likely cause of your errors is that the intel AGP driver (i810
> >> or i915, depending on your hardware) isn't getting loaded.  If that's
> >> the case, you should see an error such as:
> >>
> >> [drm] failed to load kernel module "i915"
> >>
> >> in Xorg.0.log just before the ones from intel.  If the modules are being
> >> loaded, you'll likely see some other errors around that same area.  The
> >> aren't tagged with (EE), unfortunately; try:
> >>
> >> # grep -5 'Failed to open DRM' Xorg.0.log
> >>
> >> You can also check your dmesg output to see if the devices are being
> >> initialized properly:
> >>
> >> platypus log # dmesg | grep agp
> >> Linux agpgart interface v0.103
> >> agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: Intel 965GM Chipset
> >> agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: detected 7676K stolen memory
> >> agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: AGP aperture is 256M @ 0xe0000000
> >>
> >> platypus log # dmesg | grep drm
> >> [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810
> >> [drm] set up 7M of stolen space
> >> [drm] initialized overlay support
> >> fb0: inteldrmfb frame buffer device
> >> [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20080730 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0
> >>
> >> If everything's working, you should have the following devices that the
> >> Xorg driver needs:
> >>
> >> platypus log # ls -l /dev/dri
> >> total 0
> >> crw-rw---- 1 root video 226,  0 Apr 20 13:11 card0
> >> crw-rw---- 1 root video 226, 64 Apr 20 13:11 controlD64
> >
> > Ah, thank you so much.  I needed to enable CONFIG_DRM_I915 in the kernel.
> >
> > - Grant
> 
> Strangely, now my laptop's brightness adjustment doesn't work via the
> keyboard shortcuts.  Any ideas on that?

No idea other than to suggest that you take a look in 
/usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/* for any files that you could modify 
after you copy them to /etc/hal/fdi/policy/ - but I wouldn't know how.
-- 
Regards,
Mick