problems installing gtk2.4

[Sebastián Emilio Narváez <snarvaez flashmail com>]

Hello wonderful people,
I?m new to this group.
 
I?ve a problem installing gtk 2.4
I reinstalled RedHat Linux 9    3 times in a week !!!   Please help.
 
I do the following things:
 
Su root
?
cd  glib2.4
./configure ?prefix=/usr
make
make install
/sbin/ldconfig
 
then I reboot and all is fine.  ( The reboot is only for test purposes)
 
cd pango1.4
./configure ?prefix=/usr
make;  make install; 
/sbin/ldconfig
 
reboot,  and all is fine.
 
Cd gtk2.4
./configure ?prefix=/usr
make;  make install;
/sbin/ldconfig
 
I reboot, and I have the following problem:
Failed to start the display server several times in a short time period;
disabling display 0.
 
I can work in the shell, but I can?t start X.
 
Surely, I?m missing something important here.  I?m newbie.
 
This problem is not present when I Install gtk2.4 without the
?prefix=/usr 
( I use ?prefix=/usr    so I can overwrite the libraries in RedHat, and
this way I don?t have to use
LD_LIBRARY_PATH,  PKG_CONFIG_PATH, etc. )
 
Finally (After reinstall Linux) I have installed gtk2.4  (without the
?prefix=/usr )  and it work fine.
I have compiled and installed several programs that required gtk2.4
without problems for a while, but after Installing Gconf2.4.0.1
(without the ?prefix=/usr )  I breaked gnome  (the configuration of
programs has gone).  I can start KDE (sorry), but I can?t run any gnome
program.  
 
I have readed a little of documentation, but it seems that a have a lot
to learn.
I will appreciate any suggestions, comments, or any source of info that
narrow my search.
 
Thanks in advance.
Seba.