problem with monitor asus vw198s

[Fabio]

>>>> CPU: intel core2duo with 4 Gb of RAM
>>>> MB: asus p5ql-em
>>>> VGA: intel g43 (integrated on the MB)
>>>> Monitor: asus vw198s
>>>>
>>>> I installed ubuntu 8.10 (amd64).
>>>>
>>>> The first problem is that the correct resolution of the monitor
>>>> (1680x1050) is not recognized out of the box: after installation, it ran
>>>> at a lower resolution (1360x768) and I was not able to change it.
>>>> This surprised me.
>>>> I couldn't find on the net a valid modeline for my monitor, so
>>>> I followed the instructions on
>>>>
>>>> http://www.x.org/wiki/FAQVideoModes#head-82230a582646cbf28ac41dec2139732ee868e0d2
>>>> to obtain a valid modeline using powerstrip.
>>>> I got the following
>>>>
>>>> Modeline "1680x1050" 147.600 1680 1784 1968 2256 1050 1051 1054 1087
>>>> -hsync +vsync
>>>>
>>>> Is this ok? It looks like, since I put it into /etc/X11/xorg.conf
>>>> and, this way, the resolution is correct.

So, there is no way to get somewhere a good modeline for this monitor, or 
get it automatically recognized by xorg? Is it such a rare monitor?
It seems strange to me to have problem with an asus monitor attached to an 
asus M/B (asus is one of the more "open" brand) and, moreover, with an 
Intel VGA: I have choosen Intel just because their drivers are open, so I 
thought to be safe with respects to the problems with I had with some 
Ati/Nvidia VGA....  :-(((


>>>> But now it comes another problem: sometime (not everytime) when I logout
>>>> to change user instead of the usual gdm greeting I get that the monitor
>>>> has no signal and goes automatically in poweroff: the only thing that I
>>>> can do is an hard reboot of the pc.
>>>> I can't understand the origin of this problem.
>>>
>>> There have been bugs with VT switching on intel recently. These are
>>> being fixed, so it may be best here to file a bug with Ubuntu and wait
>>> for the fixes to flow down.
>>
>> I made more googling in the afternoon and it seems that the issue is more
>> with the framebuffer that with the intel driver.
>> I had a try removing the fb, that is with options
>> quiet nosplash video=vesa:off vga=normal
>> for grub: apparently, the problem disappeared. At least, it didn't reproduce
>> for at least 10 login/logout.
>> (This is why I changed the subject)
>>
>> Of course I can live without the framebuffer and the splash screen, but
>> I would prefer if there is a way to recover it ...  :-)

Well, the truth is that the problem appeared again... :-(((
But I don't know how to do to COMPLETELY remove the framebuffer: even with
quiet nosplash video=vesa:off vga=normal
the framebuffer is still inside the initrd.img: how do I remove it from 
there?
Moreover it seems from the log that the module fbcon is loaded from X: how 
do I prevent this?

All in all: I would like to start a system with NO KIND of framebuffer: 
just the console and X started by gdm. How do I achieve this?

Thanks

Fabio