is your system a stock Ubuntu installation or an upgrade for debian? Did you change /etc/gconf/2/path? What does that file contain (could you copy that to a comment)?
Does "sudo update-gconf-defaults" run fine? Do you have a /var/lib/gconf/debian.defaults/%gconf-tree.xml? What does it contain? -- Default gnome splash screen is not ubuntu splash https://launchpad.net/bugs/46638 -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
