[Samba] nmbd not running

[Frank Whit]

(repost)
I'm trying to get nmbd to run. I've tried running the nmbd from the 
command prompt with no success. ( /usr/sbin/nmbd -D )

Also, I can't seem to login to SWAT as a super user. As a 
result non of my edits are written from the browser (SWAT) to the disk.
The 
message I get is:

failed to open /etc/samba/smb.conf for writing

I'm running RH 8.0 (and I'm a newbie). 

Comments and suggestions are appreciated.

Frank White