hm can you post the output of lsmod, lspci, and maybe even your xorg file? sometimes the lsmod and lspci must be run as root.

of course i can

lsmod:
=====

Module Size Used by Not tainted
snd-pcm-oss 37060 0
snd-mixer-oss 12216 0 [snd-pcm-oss]
keybdev 1892 0 (unused)
mousedev 4020 1
hid 20804 0 (unused)
usbkbd 2936 0 (unused)
usbmouse 1880 0 (unused)
input 3200 0 [keybdev mousedev hid usbkbd usbmouse]
usb-ohci 19368 0 (unused)
ehci-hcd 17516 0 (unused)
usbcore 58860 1 [hid usbkbd usbmouse usb-ohci ehci-hcd]
snd-atiixp 7396 1
snd-ac97-codec 45404 0 [snd-atiixp]
snd-pcm 55400 0 [snd-pcm-oss snd-atiixp]
snd-timer 13252 0 [snd-pcm]
snd-page-alloc 5908 0 [snd-atiixp snd-pcm]
snd 29412 1 [snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-atiixp snd-ac97-codec snd-pcm snd-timer]
soundcore 3396 3 [snd]
8139too 13928 1
mii 2272 0 [8139too]
crc32 2880 0 [8139too]
ds 6548 1
yenta_socket 10436 1
pcmcia_core 39172 0 [ds yenta_socket]
ide-scsi 9392 0
agpgart 45092 0 (unused)

lspci:
====

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5833 (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5838
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4347 (rev 01)
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4348 (rev 01)
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4345 (rev 01)
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc ATI SMBus (rev 1a)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4349
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 434c
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 4342
00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio (rev 01)
00:14.6 Modem: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 434d (rev 01)
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5835
02:03.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
02:04.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB1410 Cardbus Controller (rev 01)


and the xorg.conf (without the remarks to make it shorter)
=============================================

Section "Module"

Load "dbe" # Double buffer extension

SubSection "extmod"
# Option "omit xfree86-dga" # don't initialise the DGA extension
EndSubSection

Load "type1"
# Load "speedo"
Load "freetype"
# Load "xtt"

Load "glx"
Load "dri"
# Load "fgl23"

EndSection

Section "Files"

RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"

FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic/"

EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "kbd"

Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"

Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc101"
Option "XkbLayout" "hu"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "Auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "Mouse2"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"

option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
option "Buttons" "5"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "My Monitor"

HorizSync 31.5 - 48.5

VertRefresh 50-70

EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor2"
HorizSync 31.5 - 82.0
VertRefresh 50-100
EndSection


Section "Device"
Identifier "Standard VGA"
VendorName "Unknown"
BoardName "Unknown"

Driver "vga"

EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "** ATI Radeon (generic) [radeon]"
Driver "radeon"
#VideoRam 16384
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
Option "MonitorLayout" "LVDS, CRT"
Option "MergedFB" "true"

# BusID "PCI:1:5:0"
# Option "AGPMode" "4"
# Option "AGPFastWrite" "On"
# Option "EnablePageFlip" "On"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "** ATI Radeon (generic) [radeon]"
Monitor "My Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" "600x400" "320x240"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" "600x400" "320x240"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" "600x400" "320x240"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection

EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"

Identifier "Simple Layout"

Screen "Screen 1"

InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Mouse2" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

first off, you need an nvidia card. second what happens when you build the driver for the ati card? did you try the cvs versions from http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/ ? ill tell you what i have 3 or 4 ati cards that i am not using ill stick them into a machine here and try to compile and ill tell you what i get. give me till tomarrow.

i installed the latest snapshot yesterday afternoon. when i enable dri in the xorg.conf x doesn't start. it says:

Fatal server error:
Caught signal 11. Server aborting

when i don't load dri in the module section (or i don't load glx) x starts and can do the same it could do before (there is no problem with 2d acceleration).