Bug#616511: xserver-xorg-video-vesa: Blank screen on ATI R580

[Tim <tim-debian@sentinelchicken.org>]

> as in “X :0”? That's normal, you get a black background and no X
> client by default. You could try:
>   X :0 & sleep 5; DISPLAY=:0 xterm

I just tried this as well, as you suggested.  I fired up X with: 
  X :0 &

and was able two switch back and forth between the blank X window and
the console.  Note that unlike with xdm, the mouse cursor did not show
up.  Next I ran:

DISPLAY=:0 urxvt

And at that point X crashed, just like it does when spawning from xdm.

Let me know if there are other things I should try.

thanks,
tim