error logs

[Bram Kuijper]

Hi all,

Sometimes when I am working on my ubuntu box, it seems as if gnome 
stops responding: if I fire up a shell, I only see the button "shell 
starting" on the toolbar, after which the shell quits. The same for all 
other programs, also system manager is not starting up.
Crazily enough, I am still able to run Java programs, with which I can 
check the logs. In the gdm log, as well as the xorg log, I cannot find 
any warning messages that point to something irregular.

What is the right place to check for log messages if such a thing 
happens / how can I find out what's going on if my desktop environment 
just calls it a day.

cheers,

Bram