Hi,

I'm quite new to Linux. I've Centos 5.3 and usually use KDE. Last time I logged out from my account as usual and then later on when I tried to log in again I got the message "Could not start kdeinit. Check your installation". I have no clue what went wrong and how to fix it. I can use Gnome with this account, which works (except for Firefox, which for some reason doesn't want to start). If I log as root with kde - no problems there, Firefox works too. I created a new user, which is fine too, but would like to fix the old one if possible. Would appreciate some help. Thanks.

The file kdeinit was damaged or lost and needs to be replaced. Copy that from the new user to the old and give the file permissions to user1- old user.

Thanks a lot. Can you tell me where to find kdeinit?

If you clear the directory /tmp, it should work properly after that. kedinit is in /home/user, I think. Try this: locate kdeinit.

in my system its here

Cheers!!!

My kdeinit is also in /usr/bin. However, it doesn't seem to be user specific. I just hesitated to delete it since I was afraid it can mess up with the other users that don't have this problem. What should I do? Do I have to delete it anyway?

No, do not delete the file at all.
If you want another solution, do this:
1) Login as other user.
2) Su to root and copy the files you want from the old user account to the new user account.
3) use rmuser or the control panel to completely remove the old user's home and subdirectories. Don't forget item 2) above before you do such.
4) Recreate the user.
5) Import the files to the recreated user's profile and use to allow the recreated user to access.
6) Use KDM or GDM to set the user's preferred GUI.

Try this
log out

Login as another user.

sudo mv /home/suta/.kde /home/suta/.kde-old

Logout

Login as suta

Any better?

You will have to re-create your default settings.

Depending on your email program, your old mail may be under /home/suta/.kde-old
which is why I suggested renaming the .kde directory, NOT deleting it!