well, after installing Slackware I configured X using xorgsetup.

this starts gnome but it only loads partially, no icons, nothing from the application menu loads, only the default terminal on the top toolbar,

after investigating my /var/logs/message file. I found that it the user does not have permissions to i believe /etc/gconf , (im not by my machine) .
no sufficient permission - the problem is that even when i logon as root and startx, it gives me the same error

i briefly looked in that direcotry and it looks like its where gnome stores its config files.