gnome won't start and arts dies

[sean darcy]

Using current rawhide on x86_64.

X starts OK. But gnome just doesn't start. It hangs.  The console shows:

.................
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
Agent pid 4223
SESSION_MANAGER=local/amd64-3000:/tmp/.ICE-unix/4202
esd: Esound sound daemon already running or stale UNIX socket
/tmp/.esd/socket
This socket already exists indicating esd is already running.
Exiting...

I rebooted. Same thing. I deleted /tmp/.esd/socket. Same thing!

So I switchdesk to kde.

It started.

But came up with an arts error box:

Sound server fatal error:
AudioSubSystem::handleIO: write failed
len = -1, can_write = 4096, errno = 22 (Invalid argument)
This might be a sound hardware/driver specific problem (see aRts FAQ)

I rebuilt arts. Same error.

I have a VIA 8237 with ALC850.  Worked just fine till now.

Nothing in /var/log/messages.

sean