What is the deal with Gnome sessions?

[Paul Gangwisch]

I've been using FC3 since January and have religiously up2dated as each 
new package became available.  This is the first Redhat system I've 
used, although I have been a linux user since '94.  Generally things 
work pretty well, but I am having some problems initiating and 
terminating gnome sessions.  With me, after selecting a gnome session 
from gdm, the session hangs for a full 3 minutes, then continues to 
start the session and everything is okay.  With my wife, the session 
hangs when *closing* it, also for a full 3 minutes.
If I use KDE, I do not have this problem, but I have gotten used to 
gnome and would like to make it useable.  It's a pain to login and have 
to wait for 3 minutes before being able to do something... This problem 
has been going on for probably 2 months, but I cannot correlate it with 
any specific updates.  I have tried to debug the session, notice which 
processes start before vs. after the hang, etc, but so far I can't get a 
handle on it.
*PLEASE, gnome fans and gurus*, give me a hint at what might cause 
this.  I don't really want to switch over to KDE, but I might have to 
take some desperate action.
I also have burned the media for FC4, and I have considered just 
upgrading, but based on some of the "crumbling world" posts here, I am a 
bit reluctant for that.
Anyway, I hope somebody can give me some insight.
Thanks in advance!
Paul