Xorg fatal server error segmentation fault i686

[Richmond <richmond@criptext.com>]

I installed debian on an old PC i686. I chose the mate desktop. When I
tried to log in throught display manager I could not, so:

I closed X down with telinit 3
I logged in on the console as root
I ran xinit -- :0
I switched to a non root user in the xterm window on the display
I typed export DISPLAY=:0
I ran mate-session
X crashed with a segmentation fault

The backtrace is on the console so I cannot cut and paste it. It says it
is in Xorg at _start+0x31

What can I do? Perhaps use a different xserver. The display driver is
nouveau.