Laptop Hangs on Closing Screen
 

Hello,
I recently installed Debian 3.0 with the 2.4 kernel on my Dell latitude C510. I got through the installation well after I figured out that I had to use my video card as a VESA card instead of an ATI Radeon Mobility(which it is).
Anyway, the biggest problem that I have now is that shutting the monitor hangs the system. When it comes back up, I see the desktop as it was, but everything has hung. Another problem (which I'll mention because it might be related?) is that if I go away for the computer for a significant time, when I come back, it is at the graphical login prompt. I do not know if it is rebooting or restarting x or doing something else.
apmd 3.0.2 is installed, and apm --suspend works perfectly. However, it seems that the monitor closing is not mapped to that function. am i supposed to map it to that? Where should I be looking to try and find the source of the problem? What config files are probably throwing things off?

Thanks
Bill Mill