[Off Topic]Problem Starting X (Clueless Newbie)

[Lizard <lizard mrlizard com>]

Please again accept my apologies for wasting your time with this
off-topic and clueless question, but if I can't start X, I can't play
with GNOME!

When I type 'startx' at my prompt, it hangs for a bit, then says
something like 'error sitting lock in /home/lizard/.Xauthority', then
it sort of launches X, sits at the grey background for a bit, then
dies. I deleted the 'Xauthority' file, but it didn't help.

This all started after I tried to install Quake II, if that means
anything to anyone.

As 'root', I can get into X just fine, so it's something in my main
user account, but I'm not sure what I need to delete/edit/muck with.