...but all I'm getting is a bizzare patterned bitmap.

Is it a black and gray thatch-like pattern? Is it the same background that you see when the X cursor first appears, but magnified?

If so, I think that's what I was seeing with Caldera [link|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=37893|once upon a time]. (Check the rest of the thread too.) It's probably an X monitor configuration issue, of some sort.

If it's not that, I dunno. BB's been OK when I've tried it recently on my T41 laptop and the Presario I gave Ashton.

HTH.

Cheers,
Scott.