the script in common-auth are same with the how to in thinkwiki page.
#
# /etc/pam.d/common-auth - authentication settings common to all services
#
# This file is included from other service-specific PAM config files,
# and should contain a list of the authentication modules that define
# the central authentication scheme for use on the system
# (e.g., /etc/shadow, LDAP, Kerberos, etc.). The default is to use the
# traditional Unix authentication mechanisms.
#
auth sufficient pam_bioapi.so {5550454b-2054-464d-2f45-535320425350} /etc/bioapi/pam/
password sufficient pam_bioapi.so {5550454b-2054-464d-2f45-535320425350} /etc/bioapi/pam/
auth required pam_unix.so nullok_secure

at first, when i havent installed xscreensaver with pam the config was:
auth include common-auth
account include common-account
password include common-password
session include common-session

then when i install the xscreensaver with pam the config turns to:
auth include common-auth

it seems to me that my common-auth pam is fine but y is it that password is being asked first before fingerprint?

huh?! the .xscreensaver cant be found in /home// folder.
that's why i can't see if the alternativeAuth: True exists
when it was generated? can u tell me exactlly on how to get this file?

one more thing, i think the patch doesnt work for me.. i mean in the forums i have read that tweakling the pam configurations is not the answer. the right thing to do is the patch (i forgot the URL..sorry) i am using the latest xscreensaver found in the http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/ which is xscreensaver24 and ur patch below(not for debian coz im using suse). i dont know how patch works but can u please help me have a patch that will authenticate first by fingerprint then if failed, password prompt..
please help..im going crazy...