i just pulled the ATI card back out and started via S3
booted up with no errors into grafic mode...
of course XF86Config was re-edited automatically to erase ATI stuff and add S3 stuff... now i will try again...

well, re-did everything again:

1 - i log in via planar S3 card and GUI and edit file /etc/inittab to say
id:3:initdefault: instead of id:5:initdefault
this way it auto starts in text only mode
2 - i power down, plug ATI card in, power up
3 - it loads up the text-only mode like it is supposed to
4 - i log in as root and edit /etc/X11/XF86Config with vi
now here's the sketchy part :
it already detects the S3 and calles it Identifier "device1" and it also detects the ATI and calles it Identifier "device2"... according to the info online i am supposed to change those to actual "names", so i enter Identifier "S3 Savage4" and Identifier "ATI Rage 128" where i am supposed to... for ATI Driver is already "r128" liek it is supposed to be....
5 - here i want to edit the /etc/inittab file to say :5: again instead of :3:, so that it could load into GUI mode, but it already is changed to :5: - how weird
6 - i enter "shutdown -r now"
7 - it goes through the start up process, then shows something extremely fast about something failing, then leaves me in text-only mode

again, when i log in as root and type "startx" it says:

Data incomplete in file /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Undefined Device "device1" referenced by Screen "screen1"
Problem parsing the config file
Error parsing the config file
Fatal server error: no screens found

i checked the log at /var/log/Xorg.0.log and it says that i am on X-Windows 6.8.2, otherwise everything same as above...

what is going on here?????

the reason i switched to Linux was cuz i couldnt get the ATI card to work stable enough in XP... and here i cant get it to work at all - so far...

I don't know if this will make any difference, but I have an AGP Ati Rage128, and it works very nicely using "ati" as the driver rather than "r128". I have video overlay and 3d graphics acceleration.

^^^ does it use "device1" or "ATI Rage 128" under Identifier???

It uses whatever I want for "Identifier". Identifier is just that--an identifier, or a name, or a label. Just make sure the identifiers match in the different sections.

I use Debian Stable, and by default, the installer uses the identifier of "Generic Video Card". I never bother changing it.

well, when i change back to "device 1" and "device2" it starts up with no errors, but loses the driver, so GUI doesnt work again...

i am assuming i need to change something else in some other files (xorg.conf ????) to match the identifiers...

i gotta go now, back tomorrow

so im back, any solutions??? or should i try to post this under Hardware forum???

It isn't a hardware issue. It is a problem where the system is reading your XF86Config file, saying "Ok, I need to load the configuration for device1! Wait, where is device1 I cannot find it anywhere OMGWTF *dies*". Or something like that.

Could you post your whole XF86Config file, and we'll try to figure out where the inconsistency is?

OK, to post this i had to restart in S3 planar video mode, so here is no info about ATI
I will post these two files, then restart in ATI mode and add the part it adds to the files
---------- ------------
# File generated by XFdrake.

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the XF86Config man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "Files"
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Mandrake 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
FontPath "unix/:-1"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
#DontZap # disable <Crtl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work
#DontZoom # disable <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
Load "extmod"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx" # 3D layer
Load "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.a"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "en_US"
Option "XkbOptions" "compose:rwin"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "monitor1"
VendorName "Generic"
ModelName "1024x768 @ 70 Hz"
HorizSync 31.5-57.0
VertRefresh 50-70
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "device1"
VendorName "S3 Inc."
BoardName "S3 Savage4"
Driver "savage"
VideoRam 4096
Option "DPMS"

# Option "no_accel" # You may enable this if there are timeouts when starting X
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "screen1"
Device "device1"
Monitor "monitor1"
DefaultColorDepth 24

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Virtual 800 600
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 15
Virtual 800 600
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Virtual 800 600
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Virtual 800 600
EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
Screen "screen1"
EndSection

# File generated by XFdrake.

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the XF86Config man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "Files"
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Mandrake 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
FontPath "unix/:-1"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
#DontZap # disable <Crtl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work
#DontZoom # disable <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
Load "extmod"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx" # 3D layer
Load "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.a"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "en_US"
Option "XkbOptions" "compose:rwin"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "monitor1"
VendorName "Generic"
ModelName "1024x768 @ 70 Hz"
HorizSync 31.5-57.0
VertRefresh 50-70
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "device1"
VendorName "S3 Inc."
BoardName "S3 Savage4"
Driver "savage"
VideoRam 4096
Option "DPMS"

# Option "no_accel" # You may enable this if there are timeouts when starting X
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "screen1"
Device "device1"
Monitor "monitor1"
DefaultColorDepth 24

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Virtual 800 600
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 15
Virtual 800 600
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Virtual 800 600
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Virtual 800 600
EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
Screen "screen1"
EndSection

with ATI card in it adds to both files:

Section "Device"
Identifier "device2"
VendorName "ATI"
BoardName "ATI Rage 128"
Driver "r128"
Screen 0
BusID "PCI:1:5:0"
Option "DPMS"

i manually added Chipset "ATI Rage 128" to XF86Config file and i think that added the same thing to Xorg.conf file also... i think they are codependent... i also wonder what is with this Screen 0 thing...

also wanted to mention that as soon as the ATI card is in, the initial startup screen says somehting about wrong delimiters and something failing, but i can t read it that fast - is there a log somewhere or something???

and if i type startx everything goes black

i just tried to change the driver to "ati" - nothing changed
still goes black (with a tiny white line in left corner)

i wunder if the Monitor settings can affect this - like switching to 8 or 16 color mode???