XFree86 4.1: S3 virge driver on linux 2.4.xx at alpha machine: kernel bug?

Hi,

Since a year, I used a Elsa Gloria L/MX with the linux 2.4.19 kernel 
without any trouble. After switching to srm console (alpha specific), 
the graphics adapter was not longer recognized and I changed the Gloria 
to an old S3 virge card. I reconfigured X and startet X with startx. All 
what happens is, that the screen is going black, after some seconds I 
see some color pixels, and ... nothing else. The kernel hangs. I have to 
reset the board. I tried the 2.2.xx linux kernel with success. Has 
anyone an idea, was the reason for this is and how to fix it? -- One 
time, I got a softreset and the board was rebooting after I started X 
with the S3 virge driver. In this case I got ECC-error msgs from the 
kernel. I suppose that the driver sets some registers. But not the 
registers of the graphics adapter! And this causes the kernel hang

Best regards

    Harald