RH8 gnome2 long delay startup problems

[WaltX <waltx uscita org>]

I've installed RH8 in a Dell Inspiron 8200 (1,8Gz, 256 Ram) ... and 
everything goes good.
After the first boot when i log on using gnome all slows down ... gnome 
takes 30 or more seconds to start, after is started
all applications takes 10 or more seconds to start ... (gnome-terminal 
or gedit too)
When I try an hdparm -t (harddisk reading performance test) on a xterm 
it says 10 MB/sec, going (with ctrl+alt+fx) on
a virtual terminal the result is the same. When i log out from gnome and 
make the test again it says 20 MB/sec.
With kde goes perfectly and the speed is high (but I don't like kde).

I've tried to remove all the gnome/gconf/nautilus/metacity preference 
files in my home ... but no good. I've created another
user (to try from scratch) .. but after the 1 logon, it slows all down.

I've tried saving the session, not saving the session ... but nothing 
change.
I have no iptables policy defined (all chains ACCEPT), localhost is 
defined in host file, the network runs good, sgi_fam is running,
the only strange error in xfree log is: "client x rejected from local 
host" where x is a number (5 or 6).
.... now ... please help!

thanks and bye