can not launch any window manager after system crash

[B Thomas]

Hi,

I am using Debian/Etch. My system crashed while using gnome and
imagemagick. After a hard reboot I find I am unable to launch
any window manager (be it kde gnome or fvwm). All I see
is a grey background with a functioning cursor. This doesn't
seem to be a hardware problem as I replaced the video card
and it made no difference. Besides if I boot from a live
linux cd (INSERT security/rescue toolkit) the window manager
works just fine. 

There are no particular error messages. Though sometimes
I see an error messages stating xinit seg faulted (from
line 154 of /usr/bin/startx).

Would be grateful for any suggestions you can make. 

regards
thomas