GDM = GNOME Display Manager
You may need to restart GDM if GDM halts or does not want to function anymore.
If a similar problem like this occurs it usually means that only GDM does not function.
If you quickly want to restart GDM press the following key combinations together: Ctrl+Alt+Backspace
To restart GDM via the Terminal session type in the following command: sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart