I had this problem before but it started working OK for a while. I can create a new profile but when I launch the console for that user it does not show the $ prompt. It shows for su and I tried to set the terminal but I am not sure if I did it correctly since it does not work still. The terminal runs OK. This is on Solaris 8.
Appriciate your help, George

any idea why that might be?
Thanks, George

I'm not clear on your question. Is the user getting a shell? Can they execute commands? If so what are the results from:

Well, on the bottom bar I pop-up the selection from which I launch the console on solaris 8. The console or the window comes up but it takes 60 seconds (I just measured that) for the $ to come up. Then I can type commands. I an type anything in but it does not do anything until the 60 seconds when it resolve itself.
When I log in like another user the system takes like 2 minutes to come up. It's like trying to resolve something. It did not do that before. Did I mess up the system so much that it takes it so much to resolve its setup?
Thank you, George

add the line:
set -x

to your .profile. This should show you in great detail which commands are being run as you start up the shell.

+PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/ccs/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/ucb:/usr/openwin/bin:/opt/NSCPcom:/etc:.
+ export PATH
+ tty
+ [ /dev/pts/4 = /dev/console ]

That's the output.
Thanks, George

The problem you are discussing may be an X related profile issue vs. the shell profile. Most X systems have a different set of profiles which are executed which are in the X paths vs. the /etc/profile and .profile under discussion.

I suggest that it is necessary to understand the full sequence of events after you launch an X console, e.g. all the resource files and their sequence and debug step-by-step. Does this make sense to you?