scenario 1 has been, that the process starts but not gui pops up and following error occurs:
connecting stream socket:Connection timed out (110)
wild guess ... do you have any loopback network working?
i've never heard of any similar problem so i think, it's more likely a problem of your laptop/distribution/configuration than of pd (did you try any live cd (there are some live cds containting pd)...
cheers ... tim