I upgraded my X server to 4.2.1, installed without a problem, ran the xfree86 -configure, rebooted the computer, logged in as root, started x up...no problems. everything is working, all that jazz. then i tried to start x under my user name, no luck. it'll start, then quit.

i'm a newbie, so i'm not sure what file to edit with what information, etc.
any help is greatly appreciated!

Any particular error messages on the screen after it starts then quits ??

i get the error:
/home/Helen/.Xclients: /home/Helen/.Xclients-default No such file or directory
/home/Helen/.Xclients: exec: /home/Helen/.Xclients-default
cannot execute: No such file or directory

So, I looked through my root files, to see if I could just copy that over to my user files, but, there isn't anything like that. any ideas? Thanks!

Can you tell me if you have this file then: /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients

In your home directory, what is the output of ls -al ?

yup, sure do. not sure if you need to know what that file says, so...heres the contents..

#!/bin/bash
# Copyright 1999 - 2001 Red Hat, Inc.
# License: GNU General Public License v2

# check to see if the user has a preferred desktop
PREFERRED=
if [ -f /etc/sysconfig/desktop ]; then
if [ -n "`grep -i GNOME /etc/sysconfig/desktop`" ]; then
PREFERRED=gnome-session
elif [ -n "`grep -i KDE /etc/sysconfig/desktop`" ]; then
PREFERRED=startkde
fi
fi

if [ -n "$PREFERRED" ] && which $PREFERRED >/dev/null 2>&1; then
PREFERRED=`which $PREFERRED`
exec $PREFERRED
fi

# now if we can reach here, either no desktop file was present,
# or the desktop requested is not installed.

if [ -z "$PREFERRED" ]; then

GSESSION=gnome-session
STARTKDE=startkde

# by default, we run GNOME.
if which $GSESSION >/dev/null 2>&1; then
exec `which $GSESSION`
fi

# if GNOME isn't installed, try KDE.
if which $STARTKDE >/dev/null 2>&1; then
exec `which $STARTKDE`
fi
fi

# Failsafe.

# these files are left sitting around by TheNextLevel.
rm -f $HOME/Xrootenv.0
rm -f /tmp/fvwmrc* 2>/dev/null

# First thing - check the user preferences
if [ -f $HOME/.wm_style ] ; then
WMSTYLE=`cat $HOME/.wm_style |tr A-Z a-z`
case "$WMSTYLE" in
afterstep|windowmaker|mmaker)
exec /usr/X11R6/bin/RunWM --WindowMaker
;;
fvwm95|fvwm|fvwm2)
exec /usr/X11R6/bin/RunWM --Fvwm95
;;
mwm|lesstif)
exec /usr/X11R6/bin/RunWM --FvwmMWM
;;
esac
fi

# Argh! Nothing good is installed. Fall back to fvwm2 (win95-style) or twm
/usr/X11R6/bin/RunWM --Fvwm95 || {
# gosh, neither fvwm95 nor fvwm2 is available;
# fall back to failsafe settings
xclock -geometry 100x100-5+5 &
xterm -geometry 80x50-50+150 &
if [ -f /usr/bin/netscape -a -f /usr/share/doc/HTML/index.html ]; then
netscape /usr/share/doc/HTML/index.html &
fi
if [ -f /usr/X11R6/bin/fvwm ]; then
exec fvwm
else
exec twm
fi
}


drwx------ 42 Helen Helen 4096 Nov 4 15:54 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Oct 26 17:37 ..
drwx------ 2 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 27 01:45 .AbiSuite
drwx------ 3 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 31 01:08 .aim
drwx------ 4 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 31 15:48 .amsn
drwx------ 2 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 31 01:08 amsn_received
-rw------- 1 Helen Helen 0 Oct 26 22:47 .autorun.lck
-rw------- 1 Helen Helen 5854 Nov 4 15:56 .bash_history
-rw-r--r-- 1 Helen Helen 24 Oct 26 17:37 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r-- 1 Helen Helen 191 Oct 26 17:37 .bash_profile
-rw-r--r-- 1 Helen Helen 124 Oct 26 17:37 .bashrc
-rw-rw-r-- 1 Helen Helen 32472 Oct 31 15:43 .B.blend
-rw-rw-r-- 1 Helen Helen 25181 Oct 31 15:43 .Bfont
-rw-rw-r-- 1 Helen Helen 8 Oct 31 15:43 .Bfs
drwxrwxr-x 3 Helen Helen 4096 Nov 20 2001 Blender
drwxrwxr-x 2 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 31 23:09 Blenderrenders
drwx------ 2 Helen Helen 4096 Nov 2 22:48 .cedit
-rw-rw-r-- 1 Helen Helen 0 Oct 28 17:18 .civclientrc
-rw------- 1 Helen Helen 28 Oct 28 17:25 .civserver_history
-rw-rw-r-- 1 Helen Helen 3056 Oct 28 18:33 config.log
drwx------ 11 Helen Helen 4096 Nov 2 22:17 Desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 Helen Helen 854 Oct 26 17:37 .emacs
drwx------ 3 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 30 19:45 evolution
-rw-rw-r-- 1 Helen Helen 0 Oct 26 22:46 .first_start_kde
drwxrwxr-x 4 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 28 17:18 .freeciv
drwxrwxr-x 3 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 26 22:06 .fullcircle
drwx------ 6 Helen Helen 4096 Nov 2 22:17 .galeon
drwx------ 3 Helen Helen 4096 Nov 2 22:18 .gconf
drwx------ 2 Helen Helen 4096 Nov 2 22:18 .gconfd
drwxr-x--- 3 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 27 01:44 .gftp
drwxrwxr-x 17 Helen Helen 4096 Nov 1 02:43 .gimp-1.2
drwxr-xr-x 5 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 30 15:40 .gkrellm2
drwx------ 7 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 31 23:07 .gnome
drwxr-xr-x 2 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 31 00:12 .gnome-desktop
drwx------ 2 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 27 04:36 .gnome_private
drwxr-xr-x 2 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 31 22:00 .gtk-gnutella
-rw-r--r-- 1 Helen Helen 118 Oct 26 17:37 .gtkrc
-rw-rw-r-- 1 Helen Helen 1111 Nov 2 04:09 .gtkrc-kde
-rw------- 1 Helen Helen 0 Nov 2 22:18 .ICEauthority
drwxrwxr-x 3 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 31 16:04 iconthemes
drwxrwxr-x 3 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 27 05:06 .java
drwxr-xr-x 4 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 26 22:46 .kde
-rw------- 1 Helen Helen 157 Oct 26 22:46 .kderc
drwxrwxr-x 3 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 27 17:44 .kpackage
-r-------- 1 Helen Helen 22 Nov 2 04:09 .kxmlrpcd
drwxrwxr-x 2 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 27 05:08 .limewire
drwx------ 10 Helen Helen 4096 Nov 2 21:38 Mail
drwxr-xr-x 3 Helen Helen 4096 Nov 1 01:43 marbles-construction-kit
drwxrwxr-x 3 Helen Helen 4096 Nov 2 23:11 .mc
drwxr-xr-x 3 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 26 22:47 .mcop
-rw------- 1 Helen Helen 31 Nov 2 04:09 .mcoprc
drwxrwxr-x 3 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 26 17:59 .mozilla
drwxr-xr-x 3 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 31 00:05 .nautilus
drwxrwxr-x 5 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 26 21:39 .netscape
drwx------ 2 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 26 19:10 nsmail
drwxrwxr-x 2 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 28 22:38 .qt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 Helen Helen 242044 Oct 31 00:12 .rhn-applet.cache
-rw------- 1 Helen Helen 498 Oct 31 00:12 .rhn-applet.conf
drwxrwxr-x 3 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 31 00:05 .sawfish
drwx------ 2 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 31 00:07 .themes
drwxrwxr-x 2 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 28 17:26 .tuxracer
-rw-r--r-- 1 Helen Helen 4 Nov 2 04:09 .wmrc
drwxr-xr-x 2 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 30 15:47 .wmWeatherReports
-rw------- 1 Helen Helen 0 Nov 4 15:54 .Xauthority
-rwxr-xr-x 1 Helen Helen 188 Oct 31 00:03 .Xclients
-rwxr-xr-x 1 Helen Helen 62 Oct 31 00:03 .Xclients-50.42.cm.sunflower.com:0.0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2317 Nov 2 22:30 XF86Config.new
-rw-rw-r-- 1 Helen Helen 13417 Oct 26 22:46 .xftcache
drwxr-xr-x 4 Helen Helen 4096 Oct 29 06:33 .xmms
-rw------- 1 Helen Helen 6115 Nov 2 22:18 .xsession-errors

Thanks for any help!