unable to log in to grapgical desktop using gdm

[matanya]

after upgrading to 13.10, and rebooting, i was presented with gdm, but no keystoke was accepted.

from /var/log/syslog:

May 20 02:16:43 matanya-K55A gdm-simple-slave[1517]: WARNING: Failed to give slave programs access to the display. Trying to proceed.
May 20 02:16:46 matanya-K55A gdm-launch-environment][1570]: GLib-CRITICAL: g_variant_compare: assertion `!g_variant_is_container (a)' failed
May 20 02:16:46 matanya-K55A gdm-launch-environment][1570]: GLib-CRITICAL: g_variant_compare: assertion `!g_variant_is_container (a)' failed
May 20 02:16:53 matanya-K55A gdm-launch-environment][1570]: GLib-CRITICAL: g_variant_compare: assertion `!g_variant_is_container (a)' failed
May 20 02:16:53 matanya-K55A gdm-launch-environment][1570]: GLib-CRITICAL: g_variant_compare: assertion `!g_variant_is_container (a)' failed
May 20 02:18:14 matanya-K55A gdm-simple-slave[1418]: WARNING: Failed to give slave programs access to the display. Trying to proceed.
May 20 02:18:14 matanya-K55A gdm-launch-environment][1551]: GLib-CRITICAL: g_variant_compare: assertion `!g_variant_is_container (a)' failed
May 20 02:18:14 matanya-K55A gdm-launch-environment][1551]: GLib-CRITICAL: g_variant_compare: assertion `!g_variant_is_container (a)' failed
May 20 02:18:17 matanya-K55A gdm-launch-environment][1551]: GLib-CRITICAL: g_variant_compare: assertion `!g_variant_is_container (a)' failed
May 20 02:18:17 matanya-K55A gdm-launch-environment][1551]: GLib-CRITICAL: g_variant_compare: assertion `!g_variant_is_container (a)' failed
May 20 02:21:53 matanya-K55A gdm[3150]: CRITICAL: Failed to create ran once marker dir /var/run/gdm: Operation not permitted
May 20 02:21:53 matanya-K55A gdm[3150]: GLib-WARNING: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.#012This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.#012The overwriting error message was: Operation not permitted
May 20 02:21:53 matanya-K55A gdm[3150]: CRITICAL: Failed to create AuthDir /var/lib/gdm: Operation not permitted
May 20 02:21:53 matanya-K55A gdm[3150]: GLib-WARNING: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.#012This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.#012The overwriting error message was: Operation not permitted
May 20 02:21:53 matanya-K55A gdm[3150]: CRITICAL: Failed to create LogDir /var/log/gdm: Operation not permitted
May 20 02:21:53 matanya-K55A gdm[3150]: WARNING: Only the root user can run GDM