Comment 5 for bug 8594

(In reply to comment #3)
> do you have something in ~/.xsession-errors ?

Yes, the first four lines of that file are:

/etc/gdm/PreSession/Default: Registering your session with wtmp and utmp
/etc/gdm/PreSession/Default: running: /usr/bin/X11/sessreg -a -w /var/log/wtmp
-u /var/run/utmp -x "/var/lib/gdm/:0.Xservers" -h "" -l ":0" "pleger"
/etc/gdm/Xsession: Beginning session setup...
SESSION_MANAGER=local/ls4com1:/tmp/.ICE-unix/5086

Then many lines with the following content are following:

/dev/dsp: No such file or directory

The last line is:

** (gnome-session:5086): WARNING **: Esound failed to start.

The machine does not have a sound device, causing the /dev/dsp and Esound errors.