On May 2,  2:50pm, Kevin Buettner wrote:

> On May 2,  5:26pm, <lynn.newton@cox.net> wrote:
> 
> > > If it fails, you might also try
> > > 
> > >     sh -x /etc/X11/prefdm -nodaemon
> > > 
> > > in order to display the commands being executed as the shell runs.
> > 
> > Tried that, too. The last thing it does is exec /usr/bin/gdm -nodaemon, which is exactly what I thought it would and
> > should do from looking at the script. But there is no login.
> > Anyhow, I don't know how it could start a graphical
> > login program while I'm already logged in, so I didn't
> > expect that to help.
> 
> I have a machine that starts up in runlevel 3.  From a console login,
> I just tried running ``/usr/bin/gdm -nodaemon'' by hand and it brings
> up the login screen for me.

I didn't finish my thought...

Try running strace on gdm to see why it's failing or hanging.

Kevin