Gdk: x i/o error

[Dave Linder <dwl apmaths uwo ca>]

Howdy,

Whenever I try and run a gtk application I get an error
message like

   Gdk-ERROR **: an x io error occurred
   aborting...
   IOT trap/Abort

This has happened for about 4 or 5 apps, all of which seemed 
to compile just fine, including the GTK FAQ file's 
helloworld.c example.  I am using glib/gdk/gtk 1.1.6, which
all built and installed fine.  But the problem also
ocurred with v1.0.6.  I have ensured that no old versions
of these librarie, or header files, are mixed up with the
version I have built with.  I have tried running as root, also.

I do not otherwise have the GNOME window-manager/desktop system 
installed.

More gruesome details -- when I try to run the apps the outline
of the window does appear for some of these apps, but it dies
when I (left-)click to place the window.  Turning off the ability
of the Afterstep window manager to allow interactive placement of 
windows does not help.  Using fvwm doesn't help either.

But using olwm window manager allows hello_world example to run,
but not others apps. (!)

I use the Afterstep window manager, XFree86-3.3.2 SVGA server 
at 1024x768 and 16bpp, with libc 5.3.12, libm 5.0.6, gcc v2.7.2, 
and kernel 2.0.34.
A setup otherwise working just fine..  :)

Any clues or ideas welcome, thanks!  I didn't see this in the FAQ
or this list's archives.

David Linder
dwl@apmaths.uwo.ca