Gnome2 fatal error

[Keith Powell <keith keithg4jvx force9 co uk>]

I have installed Gnome2  into SuSE8, using the SuSE apt-get application. It 
downloaded and installed with no error messages, but won't run.

On starting, it loads and then I get the error message:

Application "gnome-settings-daemon" (process 993) has crashed due to a fatal 
error (segmentation fault).

No folders will open, nor will the desktop shortcuts run. There are only a 
very few applications listed in the main Gnome menu (all the main ones are 
missing), and the "SuSE applications" sub-menu is empty.

Any ideas as to what can have happened, please, and how I can get Gnome2 to 
run? 

Gnome1.4 runs OK. I just added "gnome2" as a new session.

Many thanks

Keith