After shutting down gdm via an ssh connection, I had a simultaneous connection using tightvnc from a windows box to the remote desktop application on my ubuntu box that also shutdown. However, one of the settings that I selected for the remote desktop was to disable the wallpaper. When the gdm shutdown occurred, it obviously killed the tightvnc connection. Now, I am back in front of the ubuntu box locally and the wallpaper won't come up even after rebooting. I see it at first after logging in but then a few seconds later it disappears and I am left with the standard screen that tightvnc would see.

Thanks for any input.

OK, after taking a few hours off and getting a fresh perspective. I ultimately found this thread:

here

Then I had an issue that stated "Couldnt get a file descriptor referring to the console"

Shortly after, I found this thread, here

Hopefully, this helps if anyone else runs into this issue with Remote Desktop (or VNC and the like).