xubuntu, crash during connect

below is the log from a xubuntu machine which crashed in step 3.
allow control the desktop and reers connection was both ticked.
the helper app on ubuntu did find the computer and sigalled that it was connecting

Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:09 +0000 - Starting with home_dir: /home/bta
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:09 +0000 - md5sum information: 33e829f18d826dc4294c263fd05742f7, size: 130090 bytes
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:10 +0000 - Running command 0 = get_ip_address_description ( None )
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:10 +0000 - Sent 0 == get_ip_address_description
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:10 +0000 - Responding to 0
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:10 +0000 - Finished command 0 = get_ip_address_description ( None )
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:20 +0000 - Preparing page 1 - Share or connect? (2 of 7)
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:20 +0000 - Running command 1 = get_ip_address_description ( None )
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:20 +0000 - Sent 1 == get_ip_address_description
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:20 +0000 - Done preparing page.
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:20 +0000 - Responding to 1
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:20 +0000 - Finished command 1 = get_ip_address_description ( None )
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:21 +0000 - Preparing page 2 - General information (3 of 7)
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:21 +0000 - Sent 2 == cancel_current_job
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:21 +0000 Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:21 +0000 - Running command 2 = cancel_current_job ( None )
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:21 +0000 - Finished command 2 = cancel_current_job ( None )
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:32 +0000 - Preparing page 3 - Establish the connection (4 of 7)
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:32 +0000 - Sent 3 == cancel_current_job
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:32 +0000 - Running command 3 = cancel_current_job ( None )
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:32 +0000 - Finished command 3 = cancel_current_job ( None )
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:32 +0000 - Sent 4 == connect
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:32 +0000Sun, 24 May 2009 1 4 = connect ( Done preparing page.
(True, False, '', True) )
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:32 +0000 - Responding to 4
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:34 +0000 - Sending the following information: 1,1 False True True True <SSH public key>
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:34 +0000 - Responding to -1
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/remote-help-assistant", line 3166, in <module>
    if gtk_interface() or text_interface():
  File "/usr/bin/remote-help-assistant", line 3130, in gtk_interface
    assistant = help_assistant()
  File "/usr/bin/remote-help-assistant", line 2555, in __init__
    self.backend = backend()
  File "/usr/bin/remote-help-assistant", line 989, in __init__
    getattr(self, function)(argument, callback_id)
  File "/usr/bin/remote-help-assistant", line 185, in do_log
    ret = func(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/bin/remote-help-assistant", line 1821, in connect
    open(config_dir + "/local_rsa_key.pub", 'r').readline())
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/bta/.remote-help-assistant/local_rsa_key.pub'
Sun, 24 May 2009 15:25:35 +0000 - Got error from handle_callbacks(), exiting
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/remote-help-assistant", line 185, in do_log
    ret = func(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/bin/remote-help-assistant", line 2638, in handle_callbacks
    raise self.backend # To make apport run, if it's listening
__main__.backend: <__main__.backend instance at 0x8d4feac>