keyboard preference freezing gnome

[Bernard Fay <xi@videotron.ca>]

Hello,

Since an upgrade a little while ago, everytime I try to make a
modification in the keyboard preferences, gnome freezes.  So far, I have
no clue why and I have to constantly change my keyboard layout to switch
between English and French for my work.

There is only one thing I have found and is probably not a big
discovery.  Before I could log back with my user, I have to go remove
the file %gconf.xml in ~/.gconf/desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd.

My system is Debian Etch.

Does someone know why and how to fix it? 

Thanks in advance,
Bernard