After running X, no console

[debian@grey-cat.com]

Dear All:

When i boot my system, the text console and all the virtual ttys work
just fine. When i start X, and then try to switch to a virtual tty,
the virtual tty just has a flashing underscore as a cursor, but text
(the logon prompt and anything i write) is not visible. From watching
the cursor movement, i know i can log in, etc. When i shut down X (by
exiting fvwm) teh original terminal and all the virtual ttys still
have only a visible cursor. If i was running emacs on one of those
terminals, all that is visible is the status bar. If i divide the
screen in two, there are two bars. If i ^x3 and split the screen
verticaly, the vertical bar shows up. Highlighting (as when selecting
text) simply shows the highlight -- no text. 


I've installed Debian 2.1 from Linux System Labs and MetroX 4.3. There
are two Matrox videocards & two monitors, and a sound card. I've run
this version of Debian on another machine with three monitors before
and it worked reasonably well. (There were some flaky conflicts with
the irq of the cards & the ethernet board, i believe.)

The system i, except for the MetroX, in the out-of-the-box
configuration. The only problem I can think of is that this machine
has only the debs from the CDR; the latest versions aren't accessible.

I'm not sure where to start in attempting to upgrade deb packages. 

I'd appreciate any pointers,

Thanks 

judith bush

Judith E. Bush                                          jbush@fi.edu
The Franklin Institute Science Museum           New Media Specialist
222 N. 20th Street                                  1 (215) 448-1236
Philadelphia, PA 19103-1194 USA                    AOL IM judielaine