Can startx as root, not as User
 

I have set up a graphical environment on my Laptop & am very happy with it. gdm loads up on boot & Gnome works happily.

However, I tried just going back to a command line system, starting the graphical environment when I need it.

I installed sysvconfig & disabled gdm.

When I reboot the machine I login to a text prompt fine, but when I try to startx the X server appears to start (I get a graphical background with "X" cursor) then X crashes & I am back to the command line.

I tried this as root & Gnome starts up with no problems. There appears to be no discernable difference in the text output after I stop X as root & after the crash as myself.

Is there anything obvious that I'm doing wrong, or not set up?

Running Debian Sarge on a Sony Vaio.

you could try deleting your ~/.xinitrc and ~/.xsession files and do a:
if that exists on debian sarge?!
Then startx.

can you post your /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config??

there is a line called allowed_users in there it should be console in your case!

There appears to be no discernable difference in the text output after I stop X as root & after the crash as myself.

Then it doesn't really sound like X is "crashing"... more likely it starts up correctly, finds something it doesn't like, then quits.

If you use sysvconfig to re-enable gdm, do things go back to X working correctly for you?

Knew it was something obvious I'd missed.

I had an .xsession file set up fine. Gdm, when enabled, worked fine & logged me it.

I had neglected to create a .xinitrc file

I entered the following:

exec fluxbox & wmpid=$!

gkrellm -w &
rxvt -fg white -bg black &

wait $wmpid

into my.xinitrc file, entered startx & all was well.

Forgive my ignorance & thanks for your advice.