Gnome hang on logout.

["Jason Cipriani" <jason cipriani gmail com>]

I am running Gnome 2.20.3. I just recently updated from a previous
version of Gnome (I do not remember what the previous version was but
it was at least 4 or 5 months old). I do not use a graphical log in. I
am not logging in to a remote machine, this is all local.

Since updating, when I kill the X server with Ctrl+Alt+Bkspc, or when
I log out properly via System -> Log Out, everything disappears
(including the mouse cursor) except for the desktop background, and
then it gets stuck. I know the machine is not completely hung, because
if I press Ctrl+Alt+Del the system will shut down properly and reboot
-- although the desktop background will remain on the screen until the
reboot actually happens. When it is in this state, I can't switch to
text terminals, or do anything at all (including Ctrl+Alt+Bkspc). I've
given it at least 5 minutes to exit but it does not (I remember having
issues logging out with the old version where gconfd or something
would stay running for a long time after the gnome desktop ended -- I
do not know if this is related; that didn't cause me problems logging
out but it did cause me problems if I tried to restart gnome again too
quickly before gconfd had died).

This problem happens 99% of the time -- it does *not* seem to happen
if I log out within the first few minutes of starting Gnome, but I
haven't been able to determine what I need to do to make it start to
hang. It does not seem to be a general X problem, because I can use
other desktops and window managers (and just X by itself) with no
issues. This problem did not happen at all before I updated Gnome.

I am not familiar enough with Gnome to know where to start looking;
it's becoming a major issue because it is not possible for me to log
out or switch users without rebooting the machine. What I found on
Google either didn't match my description or was a problem with remote
connections. Nothing in /var/log or my user dir jumped out at me
either. What is a good starting point for investigating?

Thanks,
Jason