cannot login after screen display problems

Hi!
This is my first post, let me know if you need further information.

i installed opensuse 11.4 on my laptop (Lenovo T60, Mobility Radeon X1400). It worked fine for some weeks, the first problem that I found was that libreoffice did not work. Calc crashed immediately (screen looked “destroyed”, only the panel was really visible, but the system seemed to work so I could log out without alt+ctr+del), writer had the problem after opening some menu options. Now (one week later) after start and login I could not see the panels anymore, I could start programs but those would not be displayed, I only saw the desktop. After restarting, I cannot even log in anymore, the screen looks destroyed as with libreoffice. I created a new user, this works and this is from where I write, however I would greatly appreciate if someone has a hint how I can use the old one again!

Thanks a lot!

as an update: I could login with a kde failstart session, I added a task manager widget started the display configuration (which I still did not see, as well as the panels that I did not see), I selected “keep above others” which made it visible, and changed the desktop to some other theme and back, now it seems to work again. I am still very concerned that this might come back, so if you have ideas what the problem might be, I would be very happy.

update2: in fact its the same as before. the problem is that no panels are displayed until I change the desktop to some other theme and back to standard, but when I log out and in again, no panel is displayed.