Is there a problem with Mathematica regarding fonts?
The X frontend for Mathematica requires use of some special mathematica fonts. If the fonts are not available to your X-server mathematica won’t work. To fix this you need to install the fonts in a place where your X-server can find them. The fonts are in the following directory: /usr/local/apps/mathematica-5.2/SystemFiles/Fonts/BDF on all SCV maintained machines.