gnome starts too slow and bottom panel missing

[Inayat Razzack <inayat shukr org>]

Hi,
Probably this may have come up too many times but I am stuck here. Any 
pointer
would help. Here is the problem:

Whenever I login to gnome, it is too slow. Also the bottom start menu 
and panel does not show up.
There were no changes made to the gnome configuration. It started happening
after I made modifications to firewall iptables, named files, and other 
files related
to mail setup. Even clicking on any of the icons on the left column make 
it run
too slow. I think it may be related to the mail setup because I also see 
the following
problems:
 1) I cannot stop named daemon. It gives connection timed out message 
from the utility that
is supposed to stop named daemon. It also blurts out endlessly 
firewall/iptables input dropped messages in /var/log/messages for 
SRC=127.0.0.1 and DST=127.0.0.1. So I cannot shut it down cleanly without
using the power button/pull the plug.

Any pointer would be greatly appreciated.

Inayat