cruark

You may want to try using the 'vesa' driver for your video card instead of the 'ati' driver. Although this will disable some of your video cards features, you should be able to at least get a picture. You also may want to try dropping down your resolution when trying to get X to work. C

For modems, a good idea is to check the Chipset on the modem. There is pretty good support for Conexant chipsets and I have had a lot of luck getting them to work. To locate your chipset, you may want to see what 'lspci' brings to the table. If that doesn't give you anything useful, pull out the modem and check the chip on the modem, note: you may have to pull the goofy sticker that some modem manufacturers place over the controller chip.