I've been trying again with the latest kernel, 3.7.9-1-i686. My logs are now showing what looks like a possible clue; here's what I think is the interesting part of /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old for my last attempt to boot using that kernel:
[ 1426.786] (II) NOUVEAU(0): NVLeaveVT is called. [ 1426.786] (II) NOUVEAU(0): Closed GPU channel 1 [ 1426.788] (WW) xf86CloseConsole: KDSETMODE failed: Input/output error [ 1426.788] (WW) xf86CloseConsole: VT_GETMODE failed: Input/output error [ 1426.788] Fatal server error: [ 1426.788] xf86CloseConsole: VT_ACTIVATE failed: Input/output error [ 1426.788] [ 1426.788] (EE) Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support at http://wiki.x.org for help. [ 1426.788] (EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information. [ 1426.788] (EE) [ 1426.788] (EE) [ 1426.788] (EE) Backtrace: [ 1426.789] (EE) 0: /usr/bin/X (xorg_backtrace+0x49) [0x81e4a59] [ 1426.789] (EE) 1: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x1a0946) [0x81e8946] [ 1426.789] (EE) 2: linux-gate.so.1 (__kernel_rt_sigreturn+0x0) [0xb771640c] [ 1426.789] (EE) 3: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x1a7180) [0x81ef180] [ 1426.789] (EE) 4: /usr/bin/X (CloseWellKnownConnections+0x34) [0x81e5744] [ 1426.789] (EE) 5: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x1a8834) [0x81f0834] [ 1426.789] (EE) 6: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x1a8f5e) [0x81f0f5e] [ 1426.789] (EE) 7: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x9d0f5) [0x80e50f5] [ 1426.789] (EE) 8: /usr/bin/X (xf86CloseConsole+0x157) [0x80e5ad7] [ 1426.789] (EE) 9: /usr/bin/X (ddxGiveUp+0x8d) [0x80bee5d] [ 1426.789] (EE) 10: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x1fa1f) [0x8067a1f] [ 1426.789] (EE) 11: /usr/lib/libc.so.6 (__libc_start_main+0xf5) [0xb736a825] [ 1426.789] (EE) 12: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x1fae9) [0x8067ae9] [ 1426.789] (EE) [ 1426.789] (EE) Segmentation fault at address 0x44 [ 1426.789] FatalError re-entered, aborting [ 1426.789] Caught signal 11 (Segmentation fault). Server aborting [ 1426.789] I have installed xf86-video-vesa 2.3.2-2 but while xf86-video-nouveau 1.0.6-1 is also installed that seems to be given preference in the boot procedure, so I'll remove it and keep my fingers crossed! -- -- ^^^^^^^^^^ -- Whiskers -- ~~~~~~~~~~