...

switch to a virtual console [ctrl-alt-F1] and type init 3

it will close X and then run startx - /usr/X11/bin/gnome2

Thanks, that works. Now I have a lot of error messages about not being able to connect TO the X server. I'm giving up for now. Thanks to everyone who helped out.

For those runlevel 5 users, an alternative is to add gnome2 to "/usr/X11R6/bin/wmlist", run "SuSEconfig", log out of your X session, and log into gnome2 for the next login session. -jrh P.S. I'd recommend backing up your gnome 1.x configuration first. It's a bit wobbly right now.