Not prompting for root password

[Greg Haywood <ghaywood gmail com>]

I am unsure if this is nautilus or gnome issue but hopefully someone
can guide me.
I am no longer able to load applets that require the root password,
the popup window that asks for the pasword does not display at all.
I can launch the appets from the command line (when su )
Also the option to shutdown when quitting only logs me off and I
g=have to select shutdown from GDM.

Thanks,

Greg