Disappearing panel

[Robin Miller <roblimo home com>]

A problem for which I didn't find a solution in the manual
or FAQs:

My panel disappears after 30 - 60 seconds when I'm logged in
as "Robin." I have autohide disabled. I also get a dialog
box that says I have another panel running, which I don't,
as far as I know.

When I say "it disappears," I mean the little pull-arrows go
away, too. The only way I can get the (a?) panel to come
back is by calling up a terminal and typing "panel." Then I
get the "another panel" dialog box, and no matter which
choice I click, the new/remade panel lasts for another 30 -
60 seconds and disappears again.

None of this happens if I log in as root, but I'm a very new
user and I'm scared to screw things up, so I'm very hesitant
about being root.

Could I have inadvertently made myself more than one Gnome
window? RH 6.0 was installed on my system by a friend, and
it worked fine when I got it home. I was experimenting with
settings and probably screwed something up, but I don't know
what.

Note: a response like "Just regrep chmod # ./
luser/bin/supergeek -haha -g -tarbaby" does me no good. It
is pure gobbledegook to me. I need some real step-by-step
help. I am *new* at this, and trying to learn. :)

-- Robin Miller
Elkridge MD USA