Ok, while trying to install MySQL from the binary i got from the mysql website it wasnt working... so i changed the TMPDIR using 'export' and i might have did something else but i cant remember... then my aterm and xfterm stopped working (along with EVERYTHING else that i tried to open) so i restarted and all of a sudden none of my window environment (KDE, GNOME, XFCE, Window Maker) worked exept for fluxbox. so i logged onto fluxbox and logged online to post this... i was wounder if anyone has any info on how i can fix this since i have no CD tray so i cant reboot it and im scared i'll be stuck with a broken computer until i can afford another CD tray (probly a few months)... ill try to give all the info i can...
Mandrake 10.0

uname -a:
Linux localhost 2.6.11.11 #1 Mon Jun 6 19:06:19 EDT 2005 i686 unknown unknown GNU/Linux

(one of the errors... opening gnome-term as a regular user):
** (gnome-terminal:7836): WARNING **: Owner of /home/montez/tmp/orbit-montez is not the current user

Could not set mode 0700 on private per-user gnome configuration directory '/home/montez/.gnome2_private/': Operation not permitted

The set tmpdir's:
[root@localhost montez]# echo $TMPDIR
/root/tmp
[root@localhost montez]# echo $TEMP

[root@localhost montez]# echo $TEMPDIR

[root@localhost montez]# echo $TMP
/root/tmp
[root@localhost montez]#

and thats all i can think of posting... if any more info is needed please tell me... any help in fixing this would be greatly appreciated (my only other option is stealing the CD tray from my moms computer and re-installing linux, but that would mean having to wait for the weekend since she doesnt want me doing it... and i would have to download the maybe 30 hours of stuff i downloaded again... on dailup...)

This one seams like a file owner problem.

Try this, as root user:

cd /home/montez/

chown -Rf montez *

(If the command needs to me slightier different, type "man chown")

This will make everythink on that directory be owned by montez.

Then change user to montez and try again opening gnome.

HAHAHAHA!!! scratch that... i figured it out after reolizing what the error message from gnome-terminal was saying... then i reolized i had accidentaly set the owner of /home/montez to root instead of montez... so a simple:
chown -R /home/montez .
fixed EVERYTHING!! wooohoo!!!

Are you trying to start x as root? You should not. Start X as user instead....

Show us the variables from the user point of view instead of root point of view.

thanks anyways sekelsenmat... that scared the grap out of me lol... now to get MySQL working...

^i had showed them from root because i couldnt open a terminal as a user... only worked for root and i wasnt sure how to change from root to user when you opened the terminal as root...

su <user name>

Those commands can be trycky =)

Watch out for the "-rf" (recursive and forced), this parameter can be quite dangerous.