I installed Debian for my first time and went through making it as simple as possible. Nothing fancy. After I had it up and running I did an apt-get install kde. Download fine, went through the config, and took me back to the prompt. On startx however, it turns black for a few seconds and then quits, taking me back to the command prompt. I probably screwed something up during the config, but being new to Linux I don't know where to look for the config file. Any help please? I'll try to get the exact read out after it fails, so I can be a little more helpful. Thanks!

The config file is /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.Try running dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86.

That seemed to get me back into the configuration screen, so thanks for that, but it seems like I'm still having trouble. Every time I startx it tells me a module failed, and then points me to a log file XFree86.0.log. If you think that would help, I'll email it to you (sheer size prevents a posting) I'm thinking that its probably the bus that I'm directing it to, but I don't understand why. lspci shows the following:

00:00.0 Host Bridge : Silicone Integrated Systems [SiS] Unknown Device 0646
00:01.0 PCI Bridge : Silicone Integrated Systems [SiS] 5591/5592 AGP
00:02.0 ISA Bridge : Silicone Integrated Systems [SiS] 85C503/5513 (rev 10)
00:02.2 USB Controller : Silicone Integrated Systems [SiS] 7001 (rev 07)
00:03.0 USB Controller : Silicone Integrated Systems [SiS] 7001 (rev 07)
00:05.0 IDE Interface : Silicone Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev a0)
00:03.0 Ethernet Controller : Silicone Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 10/100 Ethernet (rev 90)
00:09.0 USB Controller : VIA Technologies, Inc UNCI USB (rev 50)
00:09.1 USB Controller : VIA Technologies, Inc UNCI USB (rev 50)
00:09.2 USB Controller : VIA Technologies, Inc Unknown Device 3104 (rev 51)
00:0b.0 Communication Controller : Motorola SM56 PCI Modem
00:0e.0 Multimedia Audio Controller : C-Media Electronics, Inc CM8738 (rev 10)
00:0f.0 Raid Bus Controller : Trione Technologies, Inc HPT366/HPP370 (rev 05)
01:00.0 VGA Compatible Controller : ATI Technologies Uknown Device 514c

The config reminds me that I need to throw in a decimal value for the bus, instead of the hex value from lspci, though from what I thought I knew of hex, I should be able to just type the same numbers, correct? 09 = 09

I tried inputting PCI:00:01.0 (because of the AGP attached at the end), and PCI:01:00.0 because it mentions ATI. Config tool did require I use a nn:nn:nn format, so I changed the . to the : as required.

Could it be my video card? ATI Radeon 8500n. Nothing too drastic. Anyway, thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

I don't have an Ati Radeon,have you tried installing the drivers for it or searching for radeon 8500 on this site?

ATI's site has a Linux driver for it, though it looks like it was made for RH. In anycase, is there a way to download from the cl? I'll try anything atm.

I haven't tried looking specifically for the vcard here, but I'll try that next. Thanks

Sweet desktop photo btw. =)

Most distro's usually come with links (a command line browser),if not,try apt-get install links.Maybe debian has made their own binaries? apt-cache search ati.Its been awhile since I used debian but I think those commands are right.

Unfortunately, the driver is in .rpm format, and alien doesn't seem to want to work. Oh well. I'll keep looking, and keep searching. Thanks though!