I've found, after weeks of trying a bunch of different distros that my computer cannot boot the 2.6 kernel. So I've been using debian stable since it still usees the 2.4 kernel. The issue is though, it wants to upgrade the x-server (because I'm trying to use testing repositories), and it breaks everything when it does. My question is, is it possible to install debian testing, with the stable kernel? If not, can you offer any suggestions?

You could upgrade your system from Debian Stable to Debian Testing using apt-get and keep the 2.4.x kernel.

I tried that, but it removes my x-server, and a few other assorted things too. If I knew how to fix that problem, it might work.

So what happens when you try to reinstall the xserver?

The transition from XFree86 to Xorg is not very painless. But it's all easily fixable when you do a manual uninstall and reinstall of X. Or just allow the upgrade to remove X and then reinstall it.

Unless you're scared of working with the console command line, I suggest you do this. It's really easy. Learn the apt-get and dpkg commands and how they work so that you won't have trouble in the command line and you can easily restore Xorg and related files. I did this recently and it gave me a few tense moments, but there was really nothing to it. Restoring Xorg is a matter of issuing one or two apt-get commands.

Also you should really try and pin-down the reason why your computer won't boot the 2.6 kernel. With most modern distros now moving to 2.6 an upgrade would be inevitable. Can you describe that problem in more detail in another thread?

I took the suggestion of Harishankar to a bit of an extreme and installed just the base system so i could select all the packages myself. I've managed to get Xorg installed, but getting it configured is the problem, I've run into the bug about dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg silently failing. I can get all the way through it, but at the end it says "/etc/X11/X has been modified, not making changes". It also won't detect my usb mouse, it only lets me select from 2 ps/2 mice.

Have you tried configuring X with xorgconfig instead of the Debian tools?