Well, sometimes startx reboots my computer. Other times is does nothing except slow it to a halt for a while. Sometimes is locks up. I am using init level 3. At the command line, everything looks fine, and I can do whatever commands I want. When I type startx, then things go down the tubes. What doesn't happen: X never starts No error messages get posted to dmesg no log is generated in /var/log/xorg.0.log What DOES happen: on a good run, I get the error message: /usr.../startx: fork: resource temporarily unavailable on a bad run the computer either locks up or reboots, or I get a parade of notices that the comp is "out of memory, shutting down process xxxxxx". running top -u tmiller -b>/tmp/top.log in another console generates a huge file. After deleting the process entry lines (all end in startx, except the bash line), I get results like this: top - 22:27:23 up 3 min, 2 users, load average: 0.03, 0.07, 0.03 Tasks: 66 total, 1 running, 65 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 0.0% us, 0.0% sy, 0.0% ni, 100.0% id, 0.0% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.0% si Mem: 1024380k total, 178112k used, 846268k free, 14720k buffers Swap: 8385848k total, 0k used, 8385848k free, 97316k cached PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND 4517 tmiller 21 0 53976 1604 1188 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 bash top - 22:27:26 up 3 min, 2 users, load average: 0.03, 0.07, 0.03 Tasks: 367 total, 5 running, 362 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 3.3% us, 7.3% sy, 0.0% ni, 88.7% id, 0.7% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.0% si Mem: 1024380k total, 251008k used, 773372k free, 14736k buffers Swap: 8385848k total, 0k used, 8385848k free, 97320k cached top - 22:27:29 up 3 min, 2 users, load average: 0.51, 0.17, 0.06 Tasks: 3389 total, 3 running, 3386 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 35.8% us, 64.2% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.0% id, 0.0% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.0% si Mem: 1024380k total, 985600k used, 38780k free, 14740k buffers Swap: 8385848k total, 0k used, 8385848k free, 97368k cached ************************************************************************ eventually peaking out at: top - 22:28:15 up 4 min, 3 users, load average: 2.54, 0.74, 0.26 Tasks: 7696 total, 2 running, 7693 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 10.5% us, 45.2% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.0% id, 43.8% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.6% si Mem: 1024380k total, 896720k used, 127660k free, 264k buffers Swap: 8385848k total, 1035964k used, 7349884k free, 10372k cached *************************************************************************** with the PID numbers peaking at 12551, tasks at 7696, swap at 1-1.4GB used. The situation then tapers back down to "nominal" with the end looking like this: top - 22:30:04 up 6 min, 3 users, load average: 1698.55, 626.56, 224.72 Tasks: 3756 total, 1 running, 3755 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 2.8% us, 6.6% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.0% id, 90.3% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.3% si Mem: 1024380k total, 863720k used, 160660k free, 340k buffers Swap: 8385848k total, 562008k used, 7823840k free, 27528k cached top - 22:30:07 up 6 min, 3 users, load average: 1698.55, 626.56, 224.72 Tasks: 2468 total, 2 running, 2466 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 4.5% us, 10.6% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.0% id, 84.6% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.3% si Mem: 1024380k total, 579792k used, 444588k free, 496k buffers Swap: 8385848k total, 376544k used, 8009304k free, 28348k cached top - 22:30:10 up 6 min, 3 users, load average: 1562.61, 616.17, 223.52 Tasks: 1962 total, 2 running, 1960 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 2.9% us, 7.7% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.0% id, 88.7% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.6% si Mem: 1024380k total, 481056k used, 543324k free, 496k buffers Swap: 8385848k total, 305012k used, 8080836k free, 28728k cached top - 22:30:13 up 6 min, 3 users, load average: 1437.56, 605.96, 222.32 Tasks: 1371 total, 2 running, 1369 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 2.0% us, 7.5% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.0% id, 89.9% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.7% si Mem: 1024380k total, 362136k used, 662244k free, 504k buffers Swap: 8385848k total, 221904k used, 8163944k free, 29028k cached top - 22:30:16 up 6 min, 3 users, load average: 1437.56, 605.96, 222.32 Tasks: 862 total, 2 running, 860 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 1.7% us, 5.6% sy, 0.0% ni, 0.0% id, 92.1% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.7% si Mem: 1024380k total, 260440k used, 763940k free, 512k buffers Swap: 8385848k total, 149960k used, 8235888k free, 29232k cached top - 22:30:19 up 6 min, 3 users, load average: 1322.52, 595.92, 221.14 Tasks: 68 total, 1 running, 67 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 1.3% us, 6.6% sy, 0.0% ni, 4.6% id, 86.8% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.7% si Mem: 1024380k total, 87280k used, 937100k free, 524k buffers Swap: 8385848k total, 35956k used, 8349892k free, 29356k cached This was done with the xorg.conf file deleted, so it isn't caused by that. Hardware: AMD 3500+ x86_64 proc 1GB ram 8GB swap 3 x 160GB SATA drives nvidia nForce4 chipset on Gigabyte MB Gigabyte nvidia GeForce 6200 video card firewall is separate ipcop box to ADSL Software: Centos 4.4, fully updated started as a bare install (uncheck everything except KDE at software choice screen), then added only things I really want/need vmware server (free version) wine I had just spent a couple of days getting the install "tweaked" in preparation to moving to it as my "workhorse" workstation environment. I had tweaked my dual monitor setup (a 21" landscape screen next to a 17" portrait screen took a lot of false starts to get xorg.conf right), gotten vmware working, and was still wondering where the fonts went for my wine install. It was working pretty well, and I was looking forward to using it, and when I rebooted, I have this mess. I have spent hours looking on the Internet looking for similar symptoms, to no avail. "#rpm --validate --all>grep X" sqwauked about some missing *.so files, but showed nothing corrupted. I am wide open to solutions or instructions on where to look for diagnosis information as to what is wrong. Waiting for direction in Indiana Ted Miller