Comment 4 for bug 179628

after more investigation i found that i could do the following
get to console 1 via CNTL-ALT + 1
login as normal user not root
execute sudo gdm
gdm starts up
switch to console 7
login as same normal user
get gold screen with white mouse cursor

then

CNTL+ATL + 2
login as normal user
execute sudo gnome-session
gnome-session starts

switch to console 7
gnome window is displayed
with applications, places system etc.

all features work but any logout and relogin
kills gnome-session and I have to manually
restart it from console 2 (or any other console
other than 7) for thing to work again.

an abbreviated method that also worked
boot normally
try to login
get gold screen wth mouse cursor
CNTL+ALT + 1
login as normal user
export DISPLAY=:0.0
sudo gnome-session

switch to console 7
message 'session running as privileged user'
continue quit
select continue
after a bit gnome-session is up