I get basically the same issue with a core II duo machine running 2.6.18-5-amd64 from the debian package. It has also segfaulted on startup once, and also managed to completely mess up the terminal display so that Chinese characters were displayed (possibly also after segfaulting but I couldn't read the error since it was corrupted); I assume this is caused by the same bug, whatever it is.
I have seen this happening in: 1) The text console, 2) a fresh gnome-terminal, 3) a fresh xterm. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]