X problems in SuSE 9.1 on S3 prosavage DDR board

I am running suse 9.1 on my hp pavilion zt1175. I used to have vector linux on this laptop and everything seemed to work perfectly fine, in most senses, but ever since I installed suse I am having some reliability problems:

- upon startup the image on the LCD screen seems to have been shifted by ~0.5 cm to the left, which seems to be there no matter what driver I select. However using the 'Resize & Rotate' applet in kde to 'preview' but then cancel a different screen size selection alternates between fixing it and reintroducing the error. Any ideas?

- I use both a USB mouse and my synaptics touchpad. However, every once in a while (way too often) X loses track of the existence of the USB mouse (even in midst-drag) Either un- and re-plugging the mouse, or [ctl-alt] F4 switching to a non-X screen and back, tends to also fix it.

- it basically seems like the X configuration is screwed up, and I was wondering if anyone else has seen this and has any particular experience or suggestions...

Thanks!

PS. Here is my XFconfig file:
(note that it is set to use vesa, but I had the same problem with the savage driver)
===================

# /.../
# SaX generated XFree86 config file
# Created on: 2004-09-12T10:15:37-0400.
#
# Version: 4.8
# Contact: Marcus Schaefer <sax@suse.de>, 2002
#
# Automatically generated by [ISaX] (4.8)
# PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE!
#
Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
[[[ snip ]]]]
FontPath "/opt/kde3/share/fonts"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS0"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS1"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS2"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS3"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS4"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS5"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS6"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS7"
InputDevices "/dev/ttyS8"
InputDevices "/dev/psaux"
InputDevices "/dev/logibm"
InputDevices "/dev/sunmouse"
InputDevices "/dev/atibm"
InputDevices "/dev/amigamouse"
InputDevices "/dev/atarimouse"
InputDevices "/dev/inportbm"
InputDevices "/dev/gpmdata"
InputDevices "/dev/mouse"
InputDevices "/dev/usbmouse"
InputDevices "/dev/adbmouse"
InputDevices "/dev/input/mice"
InputDevices "/dev/input/event0"
InputDevices "/dev/pointer0"
InputDevices "/dev/pointer1"
InputDevices "/dev/pointer2"
InputDevices "/dev/pointer3"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AllowMouseOpenFail"
Option "RandR" "on"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "v4l"
Load "extmod"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "dbe"
Load "speedo"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "Keyboard"
Identifier "Keyboard[0]"
Option "Protocol" "Standard"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "synaptics"
Identifier "Mouse[1]"
Option "AccelFactor" "0.0010"
Option "BottomEdge" "4000"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Edges" "1900 5400 1800 3900"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
Option "Finger" "25 30"
Option "FingerHigh" "30"
Option "FingerLow" "25"
Option "InputFashion" "Mouse"
Option "LeftEdge" "1900"
Option "MaxSpeed" "0.18"
Option "MaxTapMove" "220"
Option "MaxTapTime" "180"
Option "MinSpeed" "0.02"
Option "Name" "Synaptics;Touchpad"
Option "RightEdge" "5400"
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
Option "TopEdge" "1900"
Option "VertScrollDelta" "100"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "mouse"
Identifier "Mouse[2]"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Name" "AutoDetected"
Option "Protocol" "imps/2"
Option "Vendor" "AutoDetected"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "off"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Option "CalcAlgorithm" "CheckDesktopGeometry"
HorizSync 31-65
Identifier "Monitor[0]"
ModelName "1024X768@70HZ"
VendorName "--> LCD"
VertRefresh 58-78
UseModes "Modes[0]"
EndSection

Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[0]"
Modeline "800x600" 42.83 800 840 920 1040 600 601 604 624
Modeline "800x600" 50.32 800 840 928 1056 600 601 604 627
Modeline "1024x768" 83.00 1024 1080 1192 1360 768 785 788 803
EndSection

Section "Screen"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "800x600"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "800x600"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "800x600"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[0]"
Identifier "Screen[0]"
Monitor "Monitor[0]"
DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

#Section "Device"
# BoardName "ProSavage DDR-K"
# Driver "savage"
# Identifier "Device[0]"
# Screen 0
# Option "Rotate" "off"
# VendorName "S3"
#EndSection

Section "Device"
BoardName "VESA"
Driver "vesa"
Identifier "Device[0]"
Screen 0
EndSection



Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout[all]"
InputDevice "Keyboard[0]" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Mouse[2]" "SendCoreEvents"
Option "Clone" "off"
Option "Xinerama" "off"
Screen "Screen[0]"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group "video"
Mode 0660
EndSection