Hi Kevin, This morning I'm experimenting with xorg.conf (with kernels 2.6.28-r5 and 2.6.29-r4 and with ati-drivers-8.552-r2) and have seen a variety of problems.
One detail I've noted is that files in /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers matching "*.so" seem to be auto-loaded as X starts up. If you have "ati_drv.so" in that directory, it's why you're getting messages about "ati". Try creating a "unused" subdirectory and move extra .so files to it. HTH, David