Problems with video card driver with ATI

First the context: I'm running Mandriva Linux Spring 2007 (Linux
kernal 2.6.17-13mdv) on a Siemens Fujitsu Scaleo with an AMD
Athlon 64 X2 5200+ processor. According to Windows (checked
before installing Linux---I replaced Windows entirely), my
graphics card is a Radeon X1700 FSC. I don't know how to find
out the version of XFree (which is really my first question).
My monitor is an LG L1900E. The only way to modify the
brightness of the monitor is via DDC---there are no other
controls.

With the stock installation from Mandriva, I was unable to get
ddccontrol to work---it said that there were no monitors
supporting DDC. In addition, color rendition was very poor;
according to Mandriva, it was 16 bits (rather than the 24
supported by the card), and couldn't be changed.

Mandriva also said that the video card was unknown, so I
reconfigured, forcing it to ATI. At that point, Mandriva said
that there was a vendor specific driver available, and did I
want to use it. I said yes. After reboot, all I got was a
blank screen, so I rebooted in safe mode, reinstalled the old
/etc/X11/xorg.conf, and rebooted. Discussion in the ddccontrol
mail list also indicated that I needed the proprietary driver,
so...

I went to the ATI site, downloaded the proprietary driver, and
installed it. The color rendition is definitly improved (and my
/etc/X11/xorg.conf says that I use 24 bits, and only 24 bits),
but ddccontrol still doesn't work. In addition, as soon as I
log out, the screen goes black, and I need to reboot. After a
reboot, I get the usual login screen---KDE, I think, but its a
Mandriva adaptation---, and can log in normally. It's only
after logging out that everything goes black.

For the moment, I'm going to reinstall the original
configuration, but does anyone have any ideas as to what can be
causing the login problem, and how I can correct it? I'd
rather keep the improved rendering. (Once that's solved, I'll
go back to the ddccontrol mailing list and try to find out how
to solve that. Unless someone here has a good idea about that
as well.)

--
James Kanze (GABI Software) email:james.kanze@xxxxxxxxx
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