Xvnc/vncserver refuses to run on boot

[Brian K. M. (Eng) <Bri...@ci...>]

Hi,
 
I am trying to get Xvnc/vncserver (TightVNC v1.2.9) to run on bootup on a
Linux RedHat 8.0 machine (graphical workstation install).  I installed
TightVNC v1.2.9 via the RPM (vs compiling it).  The machine I'm trying to
connect from is a WinXP Pro + SP1 + win32 TightVNC v1.2.9 client.  

I can connect fine if I start vncserver manually (or Xvnc with all the
parameters).  For some reason, if I try to get it to launch during bootup
(via /etc/rc.local or /etc/rc5.d/vncserver), it doesn't work.  The weird
thing is that vncserver appears to start successfully during boot:

"starting vncserver:						[  OK  ]"

... /var/log/messages appears to indicate that it started successfully too:

"Sep 19 23:47:17 hostname vncserver: Starting VNC server:
 Sep 19 23:47:17 hostname vncserver: vncserver startup succeeded
 Sep 19 23:47:17 hostname vncserver: ^[[60G
 Sep 19 23:47:17 hostname vncserver: 
 Sep 19 23:47:17 hostname rc: Starting vncserver:  succeeded"

BTW, does anyone know why it's starting twice in the above log?  I'm
guessing the "rc" line is from the runlevel dirs... But where is it getting
the "vncserver" lines from?  Do the contents of /etc/sysconfig have anything
to do with it?  One of the things about Linux is that there are a million
different ways of doing things..

I suspect I may have forgotten to reverse a suggestion that didn't work....
I've tried so many now that I've lost track of all the files I've tried :(

Unfortunately I don't have the link handy but I also tried following a slew
of suggestions involving editing Xservers, running gdmconf, etc.  No dice :(

I've also edited /etc/services and added:

"vncserver	5900/tcp		#XVnc server"

Most of the posts mention editing inetd.conf or inetd, but neither of those
files/directories even exist on this system, only xinetd.conf and xinetd.d

A few posts mentioned that I could verify that the service was running
correctly by:  
a) telnet-ing to :5900 (a successfully running vncserver would return some
output supposedly) or 
b) doing an "nmap -sU localhost" or 
c) "netstat -a | grep vnc"

a) telnet-ing from localhost (or from my WinXPP client machine) just results
in the connection being immediately closed.

b) An nmap -sU localhost only shows the following ports open (why isn't
"5900/tcp open vncserver" listed?):  

"68/udp	open	dhcpclient
 111/udp	open	sunrpc
 137/udp	open  netbios-ns
 138/udp	open  netbios-dgm
 177/udp	open	xdmcp"

c) "netstat -a | grep vnc" shows the following (I'm guessing it says
"vncserver" instead of "5900" is because I added vncserver to
/etc/services):

"tcp	0	0 *:vncserver	*:*	LISTEN"

That's all I can think of now... Sorry, I can barely keep my eyes at this
point :(

I've been trying to figure this out for the last 7-8 hours, with no
absolutely no luck.  It's really depressing :(  I've pretty much read (and
tried) every single suggestion I've found from www.realvnc.com 's FAQ &
mailing list archive and vnc-tight-list 's archive.  None of them have
worked.  

I am truly lost and frustrated... Any help is appreciated... Btw, I'm
running this on a secure network so don't worry about security.  

PS: I've already figured out how to get past the "blank screen with just an
X mouse cursor" issue.

Thanks in advance
Sincerely, Brian
-- 
_br...@ci... (remove _)