У меня была как-то обвязка, которая сваливалась на vesa при нескольких отвалах в единицу времени -- дёргаю фрагмент пакетого скрипта:

startcount=0
failcount=0

while /bin/true ; do
        # this will try dual-head if two heads are found, 
        # and fall back to single-head; if X keeps crashing,
        # then bail out and let init temporarily disable
        # autologin
        startcount=$((startcount+1))
        /opt/bin/xinit-wrapper /opt/bin/kiosk.xinit || {
                # in case X crashes forever, it should be at least stoppable
                failcount=$((failcount+1))
                chvt 1
                echo >/dev/tty1
                echo "Graphics subsystem failed to start," >/dev/tty1
                echo "re-trying in 10 seconds... (attempt $failcount)" >/dev/tty1
                echo >/dev/tty1
                sleep 10
        }
        # falling back to vesa, reboot needed to 
        # re-autodetect proper driver from now on
        [ "$failcount" -gt 2 ] && {
                x11setupdrv -s vesa
                xinit /opt/bin/kiosk.xinit
        }
        [ "$failcount" -gt 3 ] && {
                chvt 1
                echo >/dev/tty1
                echo "Graphics subsystem seems broken" >/dev/tty1
                echo "Call Technical Support" >/dev/tty1
                echo >/dev/tty1
                sleep 60
                exit 1
        }
done

x11setupdrv -s было реализовано eostapets@:
http://git.altlinux.org/people/mike/packages/?p=x11setupdrv.git;a=commitdiff;h=9436333b6d951e93d7036181816e8257c06a027b

The system-config-display tool has been replaced by XRandr configuration tools as found in both supported desktops: GNOME and KDE.