password database

Hi All, I'm having a problem with my computer running suse 10.0. I have it set up so that if it has been sitting for a while you need to enter your password to get back into the computer. It has been working fine for months, but all of a sudden yesterday when I went to get back on. I put in my password and it came back with a message that says "permissions on database may be to restrictive" and will not let me sign back into the computer. Any ideas? thanks, bob