Double-Image in X

[Kent West <westk@acu.edu>]

Okay, I've struggled with this for two days, and tried to find
the answer myself to avoid adding traffic to the list, but no go.

I've just installed Debian for a friend on his Gateway P5-120
upgraded to P5-180. It has a 1MB Cirrus 5446 card in it.

When I start X, I get a double-image, one atop the other (imagine
squeezing your monitor's image to half-height, then making a
xerox copy of it, then placing them so the bottom edge of the top
image touches the top edge of the bottom image).

I've tried running both XF86Setup and xf86config several times,
both modifying the existing XF86Config file and removing it
entirely and starting over from scratch.

I've tried both the SVGA and VGA_16 servers.

I've tried all manner of modeline configurations and resolution
settings.

I've tried xvidtune.

If instead of choosing the 5446 card (or STB Nitro Video or
STB Nitro) in the XF86Setup list and choose "Unsupported
VGA Compatible" instead, I can get a working 640x480 display, but
it's ugly and full of flicker.

I did an ftp (apt) install from Stable, so whatever version of X
is there is what is on this box.

Thanks for any clues!