How to do it? login as root in a window manager, and then run kde4 as user?
When I tried from user login prompt startx > 1.txt, 1.txt contained

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GOT SIGHUP


Try logging in as your normal user, selecting some form of "Failsafe" (not "KDE Failsafe") session from KDM. It may also be called "XTerm" or similar - the exact name does depend upon the distribution I believe. Then run "startkde" from there.

I picked pure fail-safe. and end up with a single x-term. Running startkde showed nothing... not even a dialog box. Just hang there.

Can you try running it as follows to see where it hangs?

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bash -x $(which startkde)

from xterm? I type bash-x$(which startkde) ?

Yes.

I type

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(which startkde)


shows nothing... just back to the prompt

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(which startkde4)


same results.
Right now, I am still in single x-term safe mode. with running firefox &.

Edit:
Funny.. after running firefox... I got :
(firefox:1521) : Glib-GIO-CRITICAL ** : g_dbus_connection_add_filter: assertion 'G_IS_DBUS_CONNECTION (connection)' failed.

Is your KDE installation in $PATH?

the user .xinitrc has

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PATH=/usr/local/kde4/bin:$PATH
export PATH
exec startkde


Please add /usr/local/kde4/bin to PATH in your xterm, then try the bash -x invocation again.

OK, it showed

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(which startkde)
/usr/local/kde4/bin/startkde


Did bash show anything being executed? The -x switch should cause it to show the numerous steps it is carrying out...
If it is showing nothing, can you please pastebin the content of /usr/local/kde4/bin/startkde?

ok.. sorry... i just type (which startkde), not all... it attempted to run KDE4, and back with a lot of message. I tried to run x-term, so can do copy and paste

Here the results

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[irfan@irfan-pc /usr/home/irfan]$ bash -x $(which startkde)
+ test x = x--failsafe
+ trap 'echo GOT SIGHUP' HUP
+ kcheckrunning
+ kcheckrunning_result=1
+ test 1 -eq 0
+ test 1 -eq 2
+ unset DYLD_FORCE_FLAT_NAMESPACE
++ echo /usr/local/kde4/bin/startkde
++ sed -n 's,^\(/.*\)/[^/][^/]*$,\1,p'
+ bindir=/usr/local/kde4/bin
+ '[' -n /usr/local/kde4/bin ']'
++ /usr/local/kde4/bin/kde4-config --qt-binaries
+ qbindir=/usr/local/bin
+ '[' -n /usr/local/bin ']'
+ case $PATH in
+ case $PATH in
+ kdehome=/home/irfan/.kde4
+ test -n ''
+ mkdir -m 700 -p /home/irfan/.kde4
+ mkdir -m 700 -p /home/irfan/.kde4/share
+ mkdir -m 700 -p /home/irfan/.kde4/share/config
+ cat
+ kstartupconfig4
+ returncode=0
+ test 0 -ne 0
+ '[' -r /home/irfan/.kde4/share/config/startupconfig ']'
+ . /home/irfan/.kde4/share/config/startupconfig
++ kcminputrc_mouse_cursortheme=Oxygen_White
++ kcminputrc_mouse_cursorsize=
++ ksplashrc_ksplash_theme=Default
++ ksplashrc_ksplash_engine=KSplashX
++ krandrrc_display_applyonstartup=false
++ krandrrc_display_startupcommands=
++ kcmfonts_general_forcefontdpi=0
++ kdeglobals_locale_language=
++ klocale_languages=en_US
+ test -n Oxygen_White -o -n ''
+ XCURSOR_PATH='/usr/local/kde4/share/icons::~/.icons:/usr/local/share/icons:/usr/local/share/pixmaps:/usr/local/lib/X11/icons'
+ export XCURSOR_PATH
+ kapplymousetheme Oxygen_White ''
+ test 0 -eq 10
+ test -n Oxygen_White
+ XCURSOR_THEME=Oxygen_White
+ export XCURSOR_THEME
+ test -n ''
+ . krandrstartup
++ test false = true
+ test 0 -ne 0
+ dl=
+ unset DESKTOP_LOCKED
+ ksplash_pid=
+ test -z ''
+ KLOCALE_LANGUAGES=en_US
+ export KLOCALE_LANGUAGES
+ case "$ksplashrc_ksplash_engine" in
++ ksplashx Default --pid
+ ksplash_pid=1663
+ unset KLOCALE_LANGUAGES
++ kde4-config --path lib
++ tr : '\n'
+ libpath='/usr/home/irfan/.kde4/lib/
/mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/lib/'
++ echo '/usr/home/irfan/.kde4/lib/
/mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/lib/'
++ sed -n -e 's,/lib[^/]*/,/env/,p'
+ for prefix in '`echo "$libpath" | sed -n -e '\''s,/lib[^/]*/,/env/,p'\''`'
+ for file in '"$prefix"*.sh'
+ test -r '/usr/home/irfan/.kde4/env/*.sh'
+ for prefix in '`echo "$libpath" | sed -n -e '\''s,/lib[^/]*/,/env/,p'\''`'
+ for file in '"$prefix"*.sh'
+ test -r /mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/env/nepomuk-env.sh
+ . /mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/env/nepomuk-env.sh
++ '[' /usr/local/kde4 '!=' /usr/local ']'
++ STRIGI_PLUGIN_PATH=:/usr/local/kde4/lib/strigi:/usr/local/lib/strigi
++ export STRIGI_PLUGIN_PATH
+ for file in '"$prefix"*.sh'
+ test -r /mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/env/perl-kdebindings-env.sh
+ . /mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/env/perl-kdebindings-env.sh
++ '[' /usr/local/kde4 '!=' /usr/local ']'
++ PERL5LIB=:/usr/local/kde4/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.12.4/mach:
++ /usr/local/kde4/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.12.4
/mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/env/perl-kdebindings-env.sh: line 4: /usr/local/kde4/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.12.4: Is a directory
++ export PERL5LIB
+ for file in '"$prefix"*.sh'
+ test -r /mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/env/ruby-kdebindings-env.sh
+ . /mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/env/ruby-kdebindings-env.sh
++ '[' /usr/local/kde4 '!=' /usr/local ']'
++ RUBYLIB=:/usr/local/kde4/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8:/usr/local/kde4/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/amd64-freebsd9
++ export RUBYLIB
+ for file in '"$prefix"*.sh'
+ test -r /mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/env/xdg-env.sh
+ . /mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/env/xdg-env.sh
++ XDG_CONFIG_DIRS=:/etc/xdg:/usr/local/etc/xdg:/usr/local/etc/xdg/xfce4
++ '[' /usr/local/kde4 '!=' /usr/local ']'
++ XDG_CONFIG_DIRS=/usr/local/kde4/etc/xdg::/etc/xdg:/usr/local/etc/xdg:/usr/local/etc/xdg/xfce4
++ export XDG_CONFIG_DIRS
++ XDG_DATA_DIRS=:/usr/share:/usr/local/share:/usr/local/share/gnome
++ '[' /usr/local/kde4 '!=' /usr/local ']'
++ XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/local/kde4/share::/usr/share:/usr/local/share:/usr/local/share/gnome
++ export XDG_DATA_DIRS
++ kde4-config --path qtplugins
+ QT_PLUGIN_PATH=/usr/home/irfan/.kde4/lib/kde4/plugins/:/mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/lib/kde4/plugins/
+ export QT_PLUGIN_PATH
+ usr_odir=/home/irfan/.fonts/kde-override
+ usr_fdir=/home/irfan/.fonts
+ test -n ''
+ sys_odir=/share/fonts/override
+ sys_fdir=/share/fonts
+ test -d /share/fonts/override
+ test -d /home/irfan/.fonts/kde-override
+ test -d /home/irfan/.fonts
+ test -d /share/fonts
+ xset fp rehash
+ xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr
+ test -n ''
+ GS_LIB=/home/irfan/.fonts
+ export GS_LIB
++ kde4-config --path exe --locate lnusertemp
+ lnusertemp=/mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/lib/kde4/libexec/lnusertemp
+ test -z /mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/lib/kde4/libexec/lnusertemp
+ for resource in tmp cache socket
+ /mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/lib/kde4/libexec/lnusertemp tmp
+ :
+ for resource in tmp cache socket
+ /mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/lib/kde4/libexec/lnusertemp cache
+ :
+ for resource in tmp cache socket
+ /mnt/other2/usr/local/kde4/lib/kde4/libexec/lnusertemp socket
+ :
+ echo 'startkde: Starting up...'
startkde: Starting up...
+ test -z /usr/local/kde4/share::/usr/share:/usr/local/share:/usr/local/share/gnome
+ test -z ''
++ dbus-uuidgen --get
+ uuid=76ed94af597f41a942586bb300000d09
++ dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session --autolaunch 76ed94af597f41a942586bb300000d09
+ eval 'DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS='\''unix:path=/tmp/dbus-rXg01x6ZAf,guid=c3b937786c4d7d9bffd7d80700000498'\'';' export 'DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS;' 'DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID=1683;' 'DBUS_SESSION_BUS_WINDOWID=12582913;'
++ DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/tmp/dbus-rXg01x6ZAf,guid=c3b937786c4d7d9bffd7d80700000498
++ export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
++ DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID=1683
++ DBUS_SESSION_BUS_WINDOWID=12582913
+ qdbus
+ echo 'startkde: Could not start D-Bus. Can you call qdbus?'
startkde: Could not start D-Bus. Can you call qdbus?
+ test -n 1663
+ kill 1663
+ xmessage -geometry 500x100 'Could not start D-Bus. Can you call qdbus?'
+ exit 1



Hm, damn. It does seem that D-Bus is being started successfully however. What happens when you run "qdbus" in your xterm session?
I suspect the tool may not be installed, or is having issues somehow.