I revisited this problem tonight, and it seems related to the xserver-xorg-video-intel package.
In desperation, I uninstalled it. # uname -a Linux alanz-laptop 3.1.0-1-686-pae #1 SMP Mon Nov 14 08:24:20 UTC 2011 i686 GNU/Linux It now boots without problems. The video seems fine, I get # glxgears 1503 frames in 5.0 seconds = 300.567 FPS It seems to be running on the fbdev. Extract from /var/log/Xorg.0.log ----------------------------------- [ 39.149] (II) LoadModule: "intel" [ 39.251] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module intel [ 39.251] (II) UnloadModule: "intel" [ 39.251] (II) Unloading intel [ 39.251] (EE) Failed to load module "intel" (module does not exist, 0) [ 39.251] (II) LoadModule: "vesa" [ 39.251] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so [ 39.259] (II) Module vesa: vendor="X.Org Foundation" [ 39.259] compiled for 1.11.0, module version = 2.3.0 [ 39.259] Module class: X.Org Video Driver [ 39.259] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0 [ 39.259] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev" [ 39.259] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so [ 39.260] (II) Module fbdev: vendor="X.Org Foundation" [ 39.260] compiled for 1.11.0, module version = 0.4.2 [ 39.260] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0 [ 39.260] (II) VESA: driver for VESA chipsets: vesa [ 39.260] (II) FBDEV: driver for framebuffer: fbdev [ 39.260] (++) using VT number 7 [ 39.281] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so [ 39.281] vesa: Ignoring device with a bound kernel driver [ 39.281] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for vesa [ 39.281] (II) Loading sub module "fbdevhw" [ 39.281] (II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw" [ 39.282] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so [ 39.293] (II) Module fbdevhw: vendor="X.Org Foundation" [ 39.293] compiled for 1.11.2.901, module version = 0.0.2 [ 39.293] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0 [ 39.293] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so [ 39.293] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so [ 39.294] (**) FBDEV(1): claimed PCI slot 0@0:2:0 [ 39.294] (II) FBDEV(1): using default device [ 39.294] (II) FBDEV(1): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section ----------------------------------- Note: If I boot with 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.0.0-1-686-pae', the screen stays black. Alan