gnome panel disappear

[zwu mbln lib ma us]

Hi, all;
   I have installed Linux 6.0 using a Red Hat CD-ROM on my 
machine which also runs Windows95. Everything worked fine at 
first for about two weeks. I used GNOME for most of the time.         
  However, one day when I restarted my machine, a dialog 
appeared saying that I already had started and panel and gave me 
two choices 1) Yes-- to start the penel without opening a new one. 
2) No -- do not start a new one. 
  Neither choice does me any good since there is no panel showing 
on the screen. Each time after I run "startx", I have to push the 
reset button to restart my computer, which  I know is not a good 
thing to do but I have no choice since there is no panel for me to 
work with. I don't have any xwindows to use for a while now. Has 
anybody seen this and could give some hint? I appreciate any 
input. Thanks much. Ziping.