VNC and grey screen terminal

Situation, trying to log in to gnome on remote linux box using vnc, like usual.  vnc4server, Chicken client, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, Gnome 2.30.2

Problem: "grey screen,"  vnc server isn't communicating with X, or something.  

Context: Lots of people have the problem [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=122402][http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=232940][http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=267146][http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/vnc-grey-screen-584511/][http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=334733][http://www.google.com/search?q=vnc+grey+screen][http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/vnc-grey-screen-584511/][http://mondotech.blogspot.com/2008/04/grey-screen-with-vnc-server-gnome-kde.html][http://forums.opensuse.org/archives/unknown/315878-unknown.html][http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/vnc-blank-grey-screen-730224/][http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/solaris-opensolaris-20/sparc-vnc-only-they-grey-screen-appears-665487/][http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/grey-desktop-connecting-to-vnc-server-251975/][http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/xstartup-configured-vnc-still-only-loads-grey-screen-on-boot-226941/][http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41027][http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/install-boot-login/436925-vnc-shows-grey-screen.html][http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/network-internet/411572-opensuse-11-1-vnc-black-white-x-cursor.html][http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1707906.html][http://www.google.com/search?q=vnc+grey+screen+MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1][http://old.nabble.com/No-.Xauthority-in-home-directory.-td21817619.html][https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vnc4/+bug/560679][http://www.google.com/search?q=causes+of+grey+screen#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&source=hp&q=causes+of+vnc+grey+screen&pbx=1&oq=causes+of+vnc+grey+screen&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=8575l8843l0l9036l4l2l0l0l0l1l294l294l2-1l1l0&fp=1&biw=1348&bih=665&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&cad=b].  I did too.  The links show that it has lots of causes and lots of solutions.

Problem, more specifically: But it turns out that the cause of my problem was different from almost everything I read, which is why I'm posting.  A friend had logged in as root on the physical machine using ubuntu's standard friendly login screen through to gnome.  This created X servers that clogged up displays :0, :1, and :2.  These servers persisted even after he logged out, and so I wasn't able to create a vncserver on display :1 like I usually do.  I found them like this (though I didn't know they were unusual until after more Googling):
 ps aux | grep tty

Solution:  The solution to my problem was also much easier than most of those in the links above.  It is embarrassing that it took me a day to think to reboot.
 sudo shutdown -r NOW

Hope this helps.