Xorg error: New athlon laptop, radeonhd video - unable to load fbdev

[Da Rock]

I hate to come with this kind of a query, but my googling hasn't come 
across a satisfactory answer.

I'm running an install on a brand new laptop for a client, and I'm 
trying to get X up using xdm- nothing. The logs says it failed to load 
fbdev because there is no data module.

I try uninstalling fbdev and running a rebuild of xorg- its still using 
the builtin configuration and still can't load fbdev. No devices detected.

I run Xorg -configure, and it shows the radeon card fine, 2 displays. 
Still working with the config file, but it seems fine.

WTF? This is essentially the same hardware as another laptop I've setup 
(same video card - same brand CPU, just bigger and faster), and its 
fine. Both are AMD, the original is athlon dual core, the new is phenom 
quad core.

The googling failed as my searches came up with either root has access 
and user doesn't, or mixed intel/ati. Neither are the case here...

Cheers