no X in inspiron 5150 (no screens found)

[Ivan Fernandez Pelaez <ivan.fernandez.pelaez@vanderbilt.edu>]

Hi everyone,

I recently received my brand new Dell Inspiron 5150.  Obviously, I
proceeded immediately to wipe Windows off and installed Debian.  So far,
everything is going good except I haven't managed to get xfree working.
I'm using testing (xfree 4.2.1), but x won't start, it complains about
"no screens found".  These are the last lines from the XFree86.0.log:

(II) Primary Device is: PCI 01:00:0
(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

The machine has a Radeon Mobility 9000 (32MB), which some people have
reported as working.  I tried generating config files from debconf,
xf86config and even a file from a guy who has a webpage about installing
linux on the 5150, and which works for him (he uses Crux linux).
Actually, not even xf86cfg starts, even though I see in the log that the
radeon module gets loaded.  It just exits with a "fatal server error"
but I don't see any other problems in the log.

Any clues? TIA

-- 
Ivan Fernández
ivan.fernandez@vanderbilt.edu