diff -upr gdm-2.17.7-pre/daemon/getvt.c gdm-2.17.7-post/daemon/getvt.c
--- gdm-2.17.7-pre/daemon/getvt.c	2007-02-11 23:40:19.000000000 -0600
+++ gdm-2.17.7-post/daemon/getvt.c	2007-03-20 16:25:35.000000000 -0600
@@ -90,8 +90,10 @@ get_free_vt_linux (int *vtfd)
 	int vtno;
 	unsigned short vtmask;
 	struct vt_stat vtstat;
+	guint v_state;
 
 	*vtfd = -1;
+	fdv = -1;
 
 	do {
 		errno = 0;
@@ -101,26 +103,33 @@ get_free_vt_linux (int *vtfd)
 #endif
 			   , 0);
 	} while G_UNLIKELY (errno == EINTR);
-	if (fd < 0)
-		return -1;
 
-	if (ioctl (fd, VT_GETSTATE, &vtstat) < 0) {
-		VE_IGNORE_EINTR (close (fd));
-		return -1;
-	}
+	if (fd >= 0 && ioctl (fd, VT_GETSTATE, &vtstat) >= 0)
+		v_state = vtstat.v_state;
+	else
+		v_state = 0;
 
-	for (vtno = gdm_get_value_int (GDM_KEY_FIRST_VT), vtmask = 1 << vtno;
-			vtstat.v_state & vtmask; vtno++, vtmask <<= 1);
-	if (!vtmask) {
-		VE_IGNORE_EINTR (close (fd));
-		return -1;
+	for (vtno = gdm_get_value_int (GDM_KEY_FIRST_VT), vtmask = 1 << vtno; vtmask; vtno++, vtmask <<= 1) {
+		/* Is this console in use? */
+		if (v_state & vtmask)
+			continue;
+
+		/* No, try to open it */
+		fdv = open_vt (vtno);
+		if (fdv >= 0)
+			break;
+
+		/* If we're here, kernel indicated that the console was free,
+		 * but we failed to open it. Just go on to higher VTs. */
 	}
 
-	fdv = open_vt (vtno);
-	if (fdv < 0) {
+	if (fdv < 0)
+		vtno = -1;
+
+	if (fd >= 0) {
 		VE_IGNORE_EINTR (close (fd));
-		return -1;
 	}
+
 	*vtfd = fdv;
 	return vtno;
 }