Starting Gnome: rc.conf vs. .xinitrc (not newbie)

[Frank Jahnke]

I usually start Gnome from the console with startx/.xinitrc, and it has
always worked as it should.  Recently, I have helped a friend add Gnome
2.14.3 to a FreeBSD 6.1 box of unknown history.  The Gnome install went
fine, as did the sound and nVidia drivers (we wiped out all the
installed ports first to clean it up a bit).

The odd thing is that we are unable to start Gnome using .xinitrc with
the same file that works for me: it just starts the standard X desktop
Putting the gdm flag into rc.conf starts Gnome.

Paths and permissions all seem correct.  I can speculate as to what
might be set incorrectly, but I thought I would ask here first.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Frank