[Hampshire] TightVNC, KDE and gkrellmd problem

I have a headless server which is running Debian lenny

I access the server either by ssh or tightVNC (if I want the KDE desktop)

But I have a problem with gkrellmd, it seems to be causing a problem with KDE
starting (gkrellem is a resource monitor). I start the vnc server running via
ssh and then use krdc to VNC onto the server desktop, I get the tightvnc
window and in the middle is the kde toolbar you get when kde starts, but it
does not get past "starting interoperational process" (or very similar) which
is the first icon on the toolbar (large cog) the toolbar then disappears and
I am left with a black window. Running top shows me that gkrellmd is using
about 20% CPU.

I have removed gkrellm but I don't seem to be able to remove gkrellmd (which I
assume is the deamon for starting gkrellm). If I try to apt remove gkrellmd I
get the following error (done via ssh)

sun:/home/mit# apt-get remove gkrellmd
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED
gkrellmd
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
After this operation, 193kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 50550 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing gkrellmd ...
Stopping gkrellmd: invoke-rc.d: initscript gkrellmd, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: error processing gkrellmd (--remove):
subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
Starting gkrellmd: gkrellmd.
Errors were encountered while processing:
gkrellmd
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I did try running apt update and upgrade and got the following error

<snip repo info>
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
phpmyadmin
The following packages will be upgraded:
gkrellmd
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/104kB of archives.
After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
dpkg-preconfigure: cannot connect to X server
debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Kde
debconf: (DISPLAY problem?)
debconf: falling back to frontend: Dialog
Selecting previously deselected package gkrellmd.
(Reading database ... 50550 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace gkrellmd 2.3.1-1
(using .../gkrellmd_2.3.1-1+b1_i386.deb) ...
Stopping gkrellmd: invoke-rc.d: initscript gkrellmd, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: warning - old pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
Stopping gkrellmd: invoke-rc.d: initscript gkrellmd, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/gkrellmd_2.3.1-1+b1_i386.deb
(--unpack):
subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
Starting gkrellmd: gkrellmd.
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/gkrellmd_2.3.1-1+b1_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Any suggestions

Tim