Thanks for the info!  It resolved this problem!
johnh...

On Thu, 31 Aug 2000, David Dawes wrote:

> Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 11:07:24 -0400
> From: David Dawes <dawes@XFree86.Org>
> To: John Hayward <John.C.Hayward@wheaton.edu>
> Cc: current-users@netbsd.org, xpert@XFree86.Org
> Subject: Re: [Xpert] xdm login screen problems with XFree 4.0.1 and
>     NetBSD-1.5Alpha2
> 
> On Thu, Aug 31, 2000 at 08:50:57AM -0500, John Hayward wrote:
> >Dear NetBSDers and XFree86 People,
> >   I donwloaded source for XFree 4.0.1 and was happy to see it built out
> >of the box.  I can run startx so things are basicly operational.
> >   If I fire up xdm I briefly see the cross hatch background then the
> >screen turns white and I do see xconsole down in the bottom right.  No
> >login box or prompts appear.  If I enter user and password (typing blind)
> >I get logged in and window manager starts up.
> >   Anyone have any ideas on what might be causing these problems of
> >greeter within xdm?
> 
> I've seen this same problem.  When xdm was modified to display a
> logo, the code assumed that the relevant resources are set in the
> Xresources config file.  Fixing it to work when they're not set
> has been on my todo list for a while.  The resources in question
> are set as follows in the 4.x xdm/Xresources file:
> 
> #if PLANES >= 8
> xlogin*logoFileName: /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/pixmaps/XFree86.xpm
> #else
> xlogin*logoFileName: /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/pixmaps/XFree86bw.xpm
> #endif
> xlogin*useShape: true
> xlogin*logoPadding: 10
> 
> 
> David
>