i looked around and i dont quite see the same error in any of other people's posts, so i started a new thread.
i used a goty installer 436 from here
http://files.filefront.com/ut+instal.../fileinfo.html
before that i used the original loki installer. i get same exact error. no difference.
here it is
BitX:/usr/local/games/ut# ut
Signal: SIGIOT [iot trap]
Aborting.
Exiting.
Name subsystem shut down
Allocation checking disabled
BitX:/usr/local/games/ut#
yes i am a root.
in case it matters i am using compiled drivers from nvidia on 2.6 kernel. the distro is recent Debian sarge.