KDE problem on startup

[Curtis Vaughan <curtis@npc-usa.com>]

When KDE is starting, it goes through like 5 stages represented by 
icons. Unfortunately, I can't remember them all but on the second one, 
where it's starting system something or other it hangs for a long time, 
then the startup screen disappears leaving just a light blue background 
and nonething else.

What could be wrong?

I'm using Debian stable on a PowerPC.  It's been working fine for almost 
a year now.

Curtis