I've installed RH9 recently on a dual CPU Xeon box. The config files are all fine (that I can tell). /etc/inittab specifies runlevel 5, and all device entries in XF86Config are fine also. I know the X config is good because I can startx and it fires up no problem. The problem is, it simply won't load the GUI login on boot (gdm/kdm, et al) regardless of what I do. It also isn't loading the nvidia drivers until I startx, so I know it's having issues. They load fine once I startx, which is odd because they don't load on boot. My question is twofold:

1.) What directory traps possible errors for X?
2.) What config file outside of the ones mentioned above specifies the GUI or no GUI on boot?

Thank you for your help...I have another machine with identical config and it works fine.

/var/log/XFree86.0.log is the file you're after.

/etc/X11/xinit
holds a host of files that relate to X's
startup.

Cheers,
Tink

Unfortunately I don't know if the error is X, gdm/kdm. or the nvidia driver not loading properly. Thanks for your tips, I'll try them and let you know if those places helped me out!

I know my nvidia driver loads at X start, but who cares if it starts in text mode? VESA not good enough? Is there any benefit? If so.... how do I start the nvidia drivers on boot?

well lots of people have problems starting x after installing the nvidia drivers, although i am not saying this is your problem but its quite possible..so point out any relevant errors you see in your /var/log/xfree86.0.log file.

I just found out that after recompiling the kernel, I needed to recompile the nvidia drivers to make everything work.