diff -up gdm-2.20.0/gui/gdmuser.c.pixbuf-ref gdm-2.20.0/gui/gdmuser.c
--- gdm-2.20.0/gui/gdmuser.c.pixbuf-ref	2007-10-01 15:27:00.000000000 -0400
+++ gdm-2.20.0/gui/gdmuser.c	2007-10-01 15:28:29.000000000 -0400
@@ -142,6 +142,9 @@ gdm_user_alloc (const gchar *logname,
 
 		img = gdk_pixbuf_loader_get_pixbuf (loader);
 
+		if (img != NULL)
+			g_object_ref (img);
+
 		/* if we have a defface, force all faces to be this size */
 		if (img != NULL && defface != NULL) {
 			GdkPixbuf *scaled;
@@ -155,9 +158,6 @@ gdm_user_alloc (const gchar *logname,
 			}
 		}
 
-		if (img != NULL)
-			g_object_ref (G_OBJECT (img));
-
 		g_object_unref (G_OBJECT (loader));
 
 		/* read the "done" bit, but don't check */