Nothing urgent, but for the life of me, I can't find out what's wrong here and it's bugging me on principle

Using Slackware 9.1, kernel 2.6.4, ATI Radeon 7000 video card

Compiled my first kernel, 2.6.4, it mostly worked and I've been able to fix most of my problems. However, I can't figure out how to get it to boot into a high-resolution console. Old kernel that came with slack, 2.4.22, worked fine in 1024x768 mode. Having recompiled the new one, I can't get anything other than an 80x30 mode.. if I set vga=ask in lilo.conf, and then pick an alternate video mode like 80x50, it loads temporarily, then resets back to 80x30.

I suspect I need a line like video=radeonfb:###x### in lilo.conf but nothing I've tried is making any change...

lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 01e0 (rev c1)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 01eb (rev c1)
00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 01ee (rev c1)
00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 01ed (rev c1)
00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 01ec (rev c1)
00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 01ef (rev c1)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 ISA Bridge (rev a4)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation nForce2 SMBus (MCP) (rev a2)
00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4)
00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4)
00:02.2 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4)
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Ethernet Controller (rev
a1)
00:05.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce MultiMedia audio
[Via VT82C686B] (rev a2)
00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AC97 Audio Contr
oler (MCP) (rev a1)
00:08.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 006c (rev a3)
00:09.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation nForce2 IDE (rev a2)
00:0d.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): nVidia Corporation nForce2 FireWire (IEEE 1394) Co
ntroller (rev a3)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (rev c1)
01:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy (rev 04)
01:06.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy MIDI/Game port (rev 04)
01:06.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Creative Labs SB Audigy FireWire Port (rev 04)
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV100 QY [Radeon
7000/VE]

dmesg | grep "radeon"
radeonfb_pci_register BEGIN
radeonfb: ref_clk=2700, ref_div=60, xclk=15025 from BIOS
radeonfb: probed DDR SGRAM 65536k videoram
radeon_get_moninfo: bios 4 scratch = 2000002
radeonfb: ATI Radeon VE QY DDR SGRAM 64 MB
radeonfb: DVI port no monitor connected
radeonfb: CRT port CRT monitor connected
radeonfb_pci_register END
[drm] Initialized radeon 1.9.0 20020828 on minor 0

dmesg also produces this line (twice, at different times!):
Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 80x30

how come you dont edit the /etc/X11/XF86Config file for resolutions?

This is about the text console, before X even starts up. The only thing useful I could find in XFree86Config* were video mode codes that are also in lilo.conf, i.e. vga=###. And using a vga=### in lilo.conf doesn't do anything - the monitor clicks to go into that video mode, then clicks back right back into 80x30.

If I missed something, perhaps you could elaborate?

use vesa vga for the console framebuffer. Radeon won't work right with it.