I ran the /etc/rc.d/xdm start and it just said 'done'. I didn't make any changes within the system *immediately* prior to this problem... even then at most all I have doen is just perform online updates... and its been at least a week since I did the last online update.... my cmd line usage isn't great: but after more ...XFree86.0.log it says -XSERVTransSocketUNIXCreateListener: mkdir(/tmp/.X11-unix) failed, errno = 13 _XSERVTransMakeAllCOTSServerListeners: failed to create listener for local Fatal server error: Cannot establish any listening sockets - Make sure an X server isn't already running .... I'm not sure where or even how to report the full server output ? What would happen if I ran the install disks again? could it be repaired... ? G.