>From: OinkFreeBiker@att.net
>Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2001 02:27:46 +0000
>[...]
>Alrightie then! I put...
>
>  /usr/X11R6/bin/kdm 
>  
>...at the end of /rc.local. Then I rebooted. 
>
>And, it went to X with a login gadget...which is cool.
>
>But I can't login as me. I can only login as root. 
>
>When I login as me, the screen goes berserk for about one 
>second, and then settles down and the login gadget comes 
>back again.

Look for an .xinitrc in your home directory.  Rename it out of the
way.  KDM wants to handle your session on its own and can get confused
when your .xinitrc starts doing things it doesn't expect.  The
symptoms of this are usually just what you described.

--
entropy -- it's not just a good idea, it's the second law.