HP DX5150 and screen-savers

[Robert Bonomi]

I'm pretty sure I've done something 'wrong', but can't figure out what. :((
I'm running a stripped-down monolithic kernel, with evrything built-in (no 
modules being run-time loaded), and cant get a screen-saver to work with the
built-in ATI Radeon x300 graphics.  I've got the 'sc' console driver, and 
'vesa' support compiled-in, and fire_saver bitches at boot time, failing to
install.  (-that- machine is at another location, so I don't have the exact
boot-time error message handy)

Any suggestions as to where to start beating on it?