[orca-list] no startup sound and no orca auto startup -- please help?

[Rusty Perez <rustys lists gmail com>]

Hi folks,
I don't really know what messed things up, likely started when I
wanted to install the latest gnome shell.
Anyway, I nolonger hear the ubuntu startup sound, so i don't know when
to type in my password, and Orca doesn't start up automatically.

Any suggestions on where to start?

I am occasionally able to start the computer, wait for the hard drive
to stop spinning, hit enter, type my password and enter, then do,
alt-f2 I think and type orca to get it started, but ... sometimes, for
what ever reason, it doesn't work.

BTW, I'm a pretty new user so, thanks for any help. :-)
Rusty