Bug 56042

No way is GNOME supposed to be robust against filesystem corruption. ;-) 
I'm reassigning to kernel since that's the only thing that could be responsible,
but I'm guessing they will tell you your hardware has problems.

Could you try the 2.4.9-12 kernel? It has a few patches to work around via IDE
hardware corruption :(

I re-read the 37292 report and followed the comments to bug 27614
My installation is reporting the same error problem: in the messages files:
  11:49:24 x kernel: hda: status error: status=0x58 { DriveReady SeekComplete
DataRequest }
  11:49:24 x kernel: hda: drive not ready for command  
So it probably is related to bug 41070

In bug 27614 arjanv suggests that it is a cable problem and that 
        'you can always boot with "ide=nodma" '
I persume that is why you suggest I build a newer kernel with IDE patches

I'll try the boot arguments and I'll also rebuild the kernal (probably with
2.4.14 unless there is a reason you want me to use linux-2.4.9.) and let
you know the results.

Upgraded to RH 7.2 with ext3.
Built kernel 2.4.14 (with the loop.c bug fix and ext3 extentions)
Sawfish failed :-(

Output on the screen having run gnome for the first time after upgrade and
kernel 2.4.14 installed:

  rep: received fatal signal: Segmentation fault
  struct debug_buf common:
  Backtrace in `fatal_signal_handler':
        <(null)+1076680776>
        <rep_symbols_init+52>
        <rep_init_from_dump+93>
        <rep_init+45>
        <main+85>
        <__libc_start_main+147>
        <XMapRaised+53>

  Lisp backtrace:

  cursor_addr value: 187
  Message: Successfully registered
`OAFIID:nautilus_factory:bd1e1862-92d7-4391-963 e-37583f0daef3'
 cursor_addr value: 9c30
 Message: Successfully registered `OAFIID:Bonobo_Moniker_std_Factory

--------------------------------------------------------------------
In var/log/message file:
  Nov 19 17:08:04 xxx gnome-name-server[1695]: starting
  Nov 19 17:08:04 xxx gnome-name-server[1695]: name server starting
  Nov 19 17:08:04 xxx kernel: ide-floppy driver 0.97.sv
  Nov 19 17:08:04 xxx kernel: hda: status error: status=0x58 { DriveReady
SeekComplete DataRequest }
  Nov 19 17:08:04 xxx kernel: hda: drive not ready for command
  Nov 19 17:08:04 xxx kernel: hdb: ATAPI 12X CD-ROM drive, 128kB Cache, DMA
  Nov 19 17:08:04 xxx kernel: Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.12
  Nov 19 17:08:40 xxx gconfd (root-1744): starting (version 1.0.4), pid 1744
user 'root'
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Reinstaling sawfish a second time produced similar errors but  including  4
  hdb: status error: status=0x50  { DriveReady SeekComplete }
and then
  hdb: DNA disabled
  hbd ATAPI reset complete
Also when listing the /usr/share/sawfish subdir there is now an entry in the
message file
Nov 20 17:12:18 xxx  kernel: EXT3-fs error (device ide0(3,5)): ext3_readdir: bad
entry in directory #3304: rec_len %% 4 != 0 - offset=0, inode=1077291218,
rec_len=10466, name_len=54

---------------------------------------------------------------------
I do not have a kernel driver for the onboard modem of sound card.

Two web sites which hold information on the motherboard:
http://www.sis.com/support/driver/linux.htm
http://www.sysopt.com/articles/sis730/index.html

I will try messing about with BIOS settings and see if that helps In the mean
time,
is there any more useful information I can provide? Do you have any suggestion
what I can do to fix the problem?

Changing BIOS settings did not make a diffrence.
I removed the CD ROM (MATSHITA CR-584) the disk errors  on
hardisk (Quantom Fireball TM3200A) stopped.

I checked the jumpers on both:
  CDROM is jumpered as the salve.
  Hardisk is jumpered as the master.

I replaced the IDE disk cable with a new one. With the CD ROM attached
the errors were still there.

I placed the CD ROM onto the second IDE slot (with another cable).

#########################################################################
THERE HAVE BEEN NO MORE HARD DISK ERRORS since I made this hardware change.
#########################################################################

However since I made this change there are is a kernel message in the message
log which appears during the startup of gnome (if there is no CD in the CD ROM:  
  kernel: cdrom: This disj doesn't have any tracks I recognize!
I wonder why the kernel is trying to grope a CD when there is none present.
Perhapse this is connected to the initial problem as hardware write problems
only seem to occure when sawfish is starting.

Thanks for the bug report. However, Red Hat no longer maintains this version of
the product. Please upgrade to the latest version and open a new bug if the problem
persists.

The Fedora Legacy project (http://fedoralegacy.org/) maintains some older releases, 
and if you believe this bug is interesting to them, please report the problem in
the bug tracker at: http://bugzilla.fedora.us/