kwm don't work

[Aaron Maxwell <amaxwell@phy.ucsf.edu>]

Hi, I'm using Debian GNU/Linux woody -- except all my KDE packages (from
kde.tdyc.com) are potato.

On my system kwm isn't working.  (or rather, /usr/bin/kwin isn't
working; kwm is a script that calls kwin.)  The X server works fine,
as do other window managers such as sawfish and enlightenment.  When I
start kwm (from kdm or startx), I get a blank greyish screen and a mouse
pointer that I can move with the mouse; but nothing else -- i.e.
clicking any mouse buttons has no effect, and the window manager has
clearly not started.

I know this is marvelously lacking in details.  I found no
errors/warnings in /var/log, or the console output of startx.  
Dunno where else to look, do you?  

My graphics card is a Voodoo 3dfx, fwiw.

Thanks in advance.
Aaron