atk-1.6.0-1.i386.rpm 28-Mar-2004 00:09 142K
atk-devel-1.6.0-1.i386.rpm 28-Mar-2004 00:09 86K
autoconf-2.59-3.noarch.rpm 28-Mar-2004 00:09 628K
automake-1.8.3-1.noarch.rpm 28-Mar-2004 00:09 477K
fontconfig-2.2.1-8.1.i386.rpm 28-Mar-2004 00:09 113K
fontconfig-devel-2.2.1-8.1.i386.rpm 28-Mar-2004 00:09 231K
gimp-2.0.0-1.i386.rpm 28-Mar-2004 16:40 9.2M
gimp-devel-2.0.0-1.i386.rpm 28-Mar-2004 16:40 66K
gimp-docs-2.0.0-1.i386.rpm 28-Mar-2004 16:41 443K
glib2-2.4.0-1.i386.rpm 28-Mar-2004 00:09 465K
glib2-devel-2.4.0-1.i386.rpm 28-Mar-2004 00:10 876K
gtk2-2.4.0-1.i386.rpm 28-Mar-2004 00:11 4.0M
gtk2-devel-2.4.0-1.i386.rpm 28-Mar-2004 00:12 1.9M
pango-1.4.0-1.i386.rpm 28-Mar-2004 00:12 264K
pango-devel-1.4.0-1.i386.rpm 28-Mar-2004 00:12 157K

Sorry about the lame post!

I installed the above rpms on redhat 9 to try and get Gimp 2.0 running. Now the system will not boot. It gets to where the logon screen would normally be displayed but only get a black screen with the X cursor.

What can I do to track down the problem?

Can you get to a command line? If it's trying to boot to the GUI then hit CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE to get to the command line and troubleshoot from there.

What Desktop/Windows Manager are you using? (KDE, Gnome, etc.)
Try typing 'startx' in the command line to see if errors are thrown before it hangs.
You will also want to look at your /var/log/syslog to see what errors may be there.

Thanks.
I was using gnome.
I'll try that now...

Chris

I can log on as root and can do startx without any problems (except that the background wallpaper while gnome splash screen is displayed is black).

If I log on as myself I am greeted in gnome by the following error:

Application "gnome-panel" (process 5264) has crashed due to fatal error. (Segmentation fault)

Clicking OK on this error message reloads gnome and I am able to use it normally to access files and programs. All software seems to work properly but the gnome theme is not displayed properly and makes some things difficult to see.

There is a little thing on the left of the screen (in the middle). It's about 50x50 pixels and looks like a panel drawer (I think that's what they're called). If I move my cursor over this, it brings about another error as described above.

I used the System Logs tool in the gnome menu to view the system log. This error message was the only one that looked interesting:

May 2 21:42:55 localhost gdm[4798] failed to start the display server several times in a short time period; disabling display: 0

The XFree86 log did not appear to have any interesting entries.

Hope this helps.

try moving your .gnome (.gnome2) directories out of your home directory. Does the fresh configuration work? It is a pain sometimes to redo all the configurations you like, but that was (unfortunately) the only way to get everything properly working for me with fedora after upgrading. For example, I could not get a background image in and stay from one login to another.

I renamed .gnome and .gnome2 directories.
That stops the error message from coming up when gnome starts.
I have to CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE to get to the prompt and do startx because the boot still stops at the black screen with the X cursor.
While starting X, the gnome splash screen is displayed on a black blackground.
That strange little panel thing is still on the left hand side and the theme is not displayed properly.

Where can I look next?

Are you set in stone on using Gnome? I ask this because I know that KDE doesn't quite work right on my system, but that's okay 'cause I don't use KDE. There are a lot of other Window Managers and Desktops that may fit your needs as well - KDE, XFCE are other Desktops and Fluxbox (my preferred), blackbox, wmaker, icewm, etc. are other Window Managers.

I can switch between them by changing where my xinitrc symbolic link points under /etc/X11/xinit although that may just be on Slackware.

Check to see what you have under /etc/X11/xinit/ if you want to give others a try.

I'll give KDE a try.

I fixed it.
I was doing a bit of fiddling and found that gtk was causing errors that at something to do with theming engine.
So i reinstalled the gtk+ rpms from the RH9 cds with

rpm -Uvh --force gtk*.rpm

Now all is back to normal.
Thanks for the assistance.