user permission denied in redhat 4

[chicha]

i have a red hat 4 and when i create a user from the # promt it creates and then allwos me to add password to it.

but when i try to switch user it does not ask for password, and directly goes to the user promt.

and there the most basic ls command is not working, no other commands work too
"permission denied" is what i get.
but if i go back to # all the commands naturally work.

when i cat or VI etc/users and etc/passwd files i can see the user and all the details.

what seems to be the problem?

thank you

 

[mediator]

1. What command u use to create users
2. How do u switch? Do u switch from root user or normal user?

 

[chicha]

useradd
su

i switch user from root. but it does not matter from where i switch user its all the same.

 

[hullap]

i think it'll be better answered @ redhat's forum or maybe their IRC channel

 

[mediator]

Switching from root user doesn't ask for a password. But from a normal account it does.