After an improper shut down, I cannot log into any x window system with the user account that was open during the crash. The user can only log into fail safe. I can log into x window fine with another user, or as root. This problem has happened to me several times before, I just noticed it was after shutting down abruptly that it occured. How do I fix this?

Suse 10.0 x86_64

here is the error message I recieved after "startx"

xauth: creating new authority file /root/.serverauth.7266

X Window System Version 6.8.2
Release Date: 9 February 2005
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 6.8.2
Build Operating System: SuSE Linux [ELF] SuSE
Current Operating System: Linux linux 2.6.13-15.8-default #1 Tue Feb 7 11:07:24 UTC 2006 x86_64
Build Date: 07 October 2005
Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.X.Org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Mon Feb 20 03:01:18 2006
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"

Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID, removing from list!

I was able to fix it, crudely, using these commands

rm /home/yeshara/.X*
rm /home/yeshara/.x*

anyone know what's really causing the problem?

I am not a security expert, so I might be wrong here, but the problem is most likely caused by the improper shutdown. A user is authentified by a key, saved in the file ~/.Xauthority. I think this file is created for each session, but it may be locked after a crash. Once you deleted the file, a proper authorisation is possible again.

The only way to avoid this problem is a proper shutdown/logout.

Yes improper shutdown is creating a lock file, removing it solves the problem. I'm glad I wrote a shell script to do it... Brief power failures are rather common where I live, which is absolutly no where, way, way out in the woods...