As far as I could see there was nothing relevant in xdm-errors.log .
I haven't had this problem with previous versions of the kernel,
compiled with gcc-2.7.3 .
Sorry I can't be more precise,
as the computer (monitor) coincidentally died,
at the exact moment I said "make" to egcs.
I wonder if anyone has experienced the same thing,
or could suggest an appropriate remedy?
-- Timothy Murphy e-mail: tim@maths.tcd.ie tel: +353-1-2842366 s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland