GNOME panel has disappeared ...

[murtuza lokhandwalla <murtuza galcit caltech edu>]

Hi

I apologize if this is an inappropriate place for this posting.
I am running Linux (kernel 2.2.14-5.0), Red Hat 6.2, and a GNOME desktop

(gnome-core version 1.0.55) on my laptop (AMD K6). I find my "panel" has

suddenly disappeared (i do not remember the sequence of events which
led to this)- used to exist earlier. All other elements of the desktop
remain intact.

1)  When i list the processes (ps -al  from a terminal) I find a
process named
"panel", though there is no panel on my desktop.  Rebooting does not
help.

2)  I have also tried restarting another panel (by typing "panel &" at a

command prompt) - this restarts another invisible panel - i.e. now
ps -al shows me two processes named "panel", however my desktop shows
none.

Any help will be appreciated.

thanks
Murtuza