new gnome2 : startup error

[Hanasaki JiJi]

just updated to gnome2 in debian sarge with an:
	apt-get update
	apt-get distupgrade

worked like a charm, till a logout / login

gdm tried to login my id and something failed and send me back to gdm.
nothing in the log files.  same result from startx from the cmd line.

deleted ~/.xinitrc and startx from the command line worked
deleted ~/.gnome2* and login from gdm worked

one item left... on login a gnome error msg box comes up.
	- there was an error starting the gnome settings daemon

any thoughts on resolving this?

thanks