Gnome startup wierdness--I may kill my computer
 

I am running RH9 and when I log in (as a regular user) sometimes, instead of the "splash screen" that RedHat shows when loading the desktop, I see only a blank dialog box that has one--or sometimes two--"green check" buttons. If I click the buttons, I just get a new blank dialog box (usually a different size) with a check or sometimes the red stop sign button (or whatever Gnome uses for the "Cancel" function.

The only way I can find to solve the problem is to ctrl+alt+backspace and log in as root and delete the user and then create the user again. Of course I lose all my Evolution setings and my home directory (I back it up first if there's something I want to keep.)

This happens once every couple of days. I can log in normally several times, and then it happens again. It doesn't seem to matter what desktop settings I use, or whether or not I click the "Save Current Settings" option when logging out.

Please help if you can. Thanks.