After 4 hours of constant searching and trying different things out, I've convinced myself to just ask here...

We just set up Solaris 9 on our new server (SunFire V480) in the lab, and everything went as smoothe as could be. The graphics card (PGX64) went in without a hitch and is working nicely so far.

The problem is that we can't get the CDE login to come up, but we can login from the command line.

We've tried "/usr/dt/bin/dtconfig -e" and it will echo "desktop auto-start enabled" to the screen, which seems correct, but when we boot (or exit) after that it just goes to the command line login again.

From what I've picked up on, "/usr/dt/bin/dtconfig -e" edits the file:
/etc/rc.config.d/desktop
so it has a line that reads :DESKTOP=CDE
,which is read by the file:
/sbin/init.d/dtlogin.rc

Two 'problems' arise with this:
1. There is no "/etc/rc.config.d/" directory;
2. There is no "/sbin/init.d/" directory...

On our existing server (Solaris 8 on a modified workstation), I found the file:
dtlogin.rc
here: "/usr/dt/config/dtlogin.rc"

Still haven't found an equivilent file to "/etc/rc.config.d/desktop" though...

A bad install maybe? Start from scratch with a 'sys-unconfig'? Something I'm missing? A patch for the video card for Solaris 9? (the disk we got with the card only had patches for Solaris 8 and previous)...

before reloading.. I would try this patch:

Patch-ID# 112622-06
Keywords: PGX m64 driver window config
Synopsis: SunOS 5.9: M64 Graphics Patch

Tried the patch, didn't fix it. Any other ideas?

Going to add that a second or two after it gives the console login, it echo this line to the screen:
syslogd: going down on signal 15

Which coincedentally is the same thing it says when going to the ok prompt... That makes me want to think something didn't go so smoothly during the initial installation.
Of course, I've been wrong before, so I'm open to any other suggestions...

Sorry, the line actually reads:
[date] [hostname] syslogd: going down on signal 15

From command line, type:
kdmconfig

This will allow you to specify monitor/graphics card... and will test the X server. If your system passes this test, then again at the command line type:
/etc/rc2.d/S99dtlogin reset

Log out of command line and wait 30-60 seconds while your console's X server does it's thing.

(logging out is crucial, since the X server won't start up again until the console is free -- I'm speaking of course about the X server session that controls the console. Remote X sessions will work regardless of console state)

I had the same problem on an ES450. Unfortunately, I had to reboot. The reset worked once .. and then didn't work in another instance.

just returns
kdmconfig: not found

We were able to edit the login file to allow the superuser to login in remotely (temporarly), and sure enough, everything came up fine, CDE 1.5 and all... It just won't offer the CDE login from the system console...
At least that's a step in the right direction...