On Jan 23,  3:12pm, Peter Seebach wrote:
}
} $ su
} su: pam_start failed
} 
} Well, that's awfully nice.  Such a detailed message!  And it makes it so easy
} to fix the problem, too!

     Is there anything logged?  What are the permissions on su?  What
is in /etc/pam.d?

     BTW, since this is a security issue, messages to users shouldn't
be overly detailed; the logs are where the details should be.

}-- End of excerpt from Peter Seebach