sshd will not run from boot

[SirronD]

I have the following strange problem with sshd:
It will not run from boot, or with the "/etc/init.d/sshd start" command. But it will run if I su to root in a terminal, and use the "/usr/sbin/sshd" command.

When I try to start as a service from boot or with the "start" it looks like it starts. And if I use "/etc/init.d/sshd status" it shows "started". But it is not running. There is no /var/run/sshd.pid, and there are no messages, and top or gnome-system-monitor do not show it running.

When I run using "/usr/sbin/sshd" it starts correctly. There is a /var/run/sshd.pid, and top and gnome-system-monitor show it running (and of course, I am able to log into the machine).

I cannot find any messages in any log showing why this program does not run. And it is very frustrating that "/etc/init.d/sshd status" wrongly shows that it is started when it is not.

If anyone has an idea on what the problem could be, or an idea on what I can do to try and debug this, please let me know.

Some system details:
openssh-3.8.1_p1-r1
kernel build: 2.4.25-gentoo-r2
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1500MHz stepping 05
on an IBM thinkpad T41

Thanks

[gentoo_dude]

I had the same problem with dhcp. What I noticed in the /etc/init.d/<script> file that it was trying to run it, in my case, as the dhcp user (under the start part). It just didn't start the daemon. After I commented those lines I was able to get started at boot.