it looks like i lost my gui. i get the following error at boot up:

The gdm group does not exist. Please correct gdm configuration /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf and restart gdm.

I have looked at the file but have no idea how to fix it. I have also tried to add the gdm group and i get the following error

name gdm is not unique

somebody please help me on how to fix this. thank you very much

Check your log files to see if thier is any trace of what happened. Also post your gdm.conf file.

log file didnt show anything.

[daemon]
AutomaticLoginEnable=false
AutomaticLogin=

AlwaysRestartServer=false
Configurator=/usr/sbin/gdmsetup --disable-sound --disable-crash-dialog
GnomeDefaultSession=/usr/share/gnome/default.session
Chooser=/usr/bin/gdmchooser
DefaultPath=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin
DisplayInitDir=/etc/X11/gdm/Init
Greeter=/usr/bin/gdmgreeter

RemoteGreeter=/usr/bin/gdmlogin
Group=gdm
HaltCommand=/usr/bin/poweroff
KillInitClients=true
LogDir=/var/log/gdm
PidFile=/var/run/gdm.pid
PostSessionScriptDir=/etc/X11/gdm/PostSession/
PreSessionScriptDir=/etc/X11/gdm/PreSession/

FailsafeXServer=
XKeepsCrashing=/etc/X11/gdm/XKeepsCrashing
RebootCommand=/sbin/shutdown -r now
RootPath=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin
ServAuthDir=/var/gdm
SessionDir=/etc/X11/gdm/Sessions/
SuspendCommand=
User=gdm
UserAuthDir=
UserAuthFBDir=/tmp
UserAuthFile=.Xauthority
TimedLoginEnable=false
TimedLogin=
TimedLoginDelay=30
StandardXServer=/usr/X11R6/bin/X
FlexibleXServers=5
Xnest=/usr/X11R6/bin/Xnest -name Xnest -kb

AllowRoot=true
# If you want to be paranoid, turn this one off
AllowRemoteRoot=true
AllowRemoteAutoLogin=false
RelaxPermissions=0
RetryDelay=1
UserMaxFile=65536
SessionMaxFile=524388

Enable=false
HonorIndirect=true
MaxPending=4
MaxPendingIndirect=4
MaxSessions=16
MaxWait=15
MaxWaitIndirect=15
DisplaysPerHost=1
Port=177

Willing=/etc/X11/gdm/Xwilling

[gui]
GtkRC=/usr/share/themes/Bluecurve/gtk-2.0/gtkrc
MaxIconWidth=128
MaxIconHeight=128

[greeter]
TitleBar=false
ConfigAvailable=false
Browser=false
DefaultFace=/usr/share/pixmaps/nobody.png
DefaultLocale=en_US

Exclude=nfsnobody
MinimalUID=500
GlobalFaceDir=/usr/share/faces/
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/gdm.xpm
LocaleFile=/etc/X11/gdm/locale.alias
Logo=
## nice RH logo for the above line: /usr/share/pixmaps/redhat/shadowman-200.png
Quiver=true
SystemMenu=true
# Note to distributors, if you wish to have a different Welcome string
# and wish to have this translated you can have entries such as
# Welcome[cs]=Vitejte na %n
# Just make sure the string is in utf-8
Welcome=Welcome to %n
LockPosition=true
SetPosition=false
PositionX=0
PositionY=0
XineramaScreen=0
#Type can be 0=None, 1=Image, 2=Color
BackgroundType=0
BackgroundImage=
BackgroundScaleToFit=true
BackgroundColor=#27408b
BackgroundRemoteOnlyColor=true
BackgroundProgram=/usr/bin/xsri --redhat-login --run
# if this is true then the background program is run always, otherwise
# it is only run when the BackgroundType is 0 (None)
RunBackgroundProgramAlways=false
ShowGnomeChooserSession=false
ShowGnomeFailsafeSession=false
ShowXtermFailsafeSession=false
Use24Clock=false
UseCirclesInEntry=false
# These two keys are for the new greeter. Circles is the standard
# shipped theme
GraphicalTheme=Bluecurve
GraphicalThemeDir=/usr/share/gdm/themes/

[chooser]
DefaultHostImg=/usr/share/pixmaps/nohost.png
HostImageDir=/usr/share/hosts/
ScanTime=3
Hosts=
Broadcast=true

[debug]
# This will enable debugging into the syslog, usually not neccessary
# and it creates a LOT of spew of random stuff to the syslog
Enable=false

[servers]
0=Standard
#1=Standard
#Note: If you want to make sure X runs on a specific virtual console on linux,
# you can use the following (for console 7). However this can cause
# problems for some users. Be careful about this, getting this wrong
# can lead to an unusable console. Best solution is to make sure gdm
# starts as the last thing, and that will make it not neccessary to
# do hacks like this.
#0=Standard vt7
#
#Note: If you want to run an X terminal you could add an X server such as this
#0=Terminal -query serverhostname
# or for a chooser (optionally serverhostname could be localhost)
#0=Terminal -indirect serverhostname

[server-Standard]
name=Standard server
command=/usr/X11R6/bin/X
flexible=true

# To use this server type you should add -query host or -indirect host
# to the command line
[server-Terminal]
name=Terminal server
# Add -terminate to make things behave more nicely
command=/usr/X11R6/bin/X -terminate
# Make this not appear in the flexible servers (we need extra params
# anyway, and terminate would be bad for xdmcp)
flexible=false
# Not local, we do not handle the logins for this X server
handled=false

This is related to your problem with adding groups.

You've messed up your group file : /etc/group
and gnome can't get the right permissions to start up.

I'm confused on the group thing at the minute (and deleted my post to your other thread) on exactly how many groups you can have by default.

Acording to various sources (and my own inspection) the max number of groups on a default install is 32. However, looking at a default install on a spare machine I have here, I currently have 41 groups with no problem... Which, as I say, confuses me, and makes me unworthy to answer your 'group' problem.

Slick.

i figured i screwed something up with the groups. now the question is how do i fix it.

do i go in and delete the groups i made and this will work?

the groups were made by default when i added a new user.

what solution do i have to fix the problem?