kde problem on gutsy

[pkaplan1 at comcast.net]

I just did a mostly clean install of gutsy.  As in previous "upgrades", I allowed the installer to reformat / partition while leaving intact the /home partition.  Thus all my user directories are preserved intact.  Now however, I can't login to one of my user accounts through kdm.  After entering the username and password, I get an error window (an unadorned X dialog box) telling me that startkdeconfig won't run (don't recall the exact wording).  After selecting the OK button to clear the dialog box, the system thinks for a few seconds and then dumps me back to the kdm login screen.  I can login to the same account using another window manager, and I've tried renaming the .kde directory, but no luck, I still can't get this account to start kde.  Since I'm writing this from another (new to gutsy) account, there's nothing apparently wrong with the kde installation.

Any ideas how to get back to kde on the first account?
Paul