Terminal - Missing command prompt

I'm not getting a command prompt in the Terminal app (Applications/Utilities). When I launch Terminal all I get is one line...

Last login: Sun Feb 8 08:22:27 on ttys003.

Right below that line is a solid cursor. When I press ENTER the only thing that happens is that the cursor skips to the next line. How do I get my command prompt back?

The last thing I did on Terminal was execute the following lines...
cd /private/etc
sudo cp php.ini.default php.ini

Please help. Thanks

When you type a command into this "no command prompt" Terminal, is the command executed? I.e., does "ls<ENTER>" give you a list of directory contents (with no command prompt afterwards)?

No, when I type "ls" and press ENTER in the "no command prompt" Terminal the cursor just skips to the next line and nothing else seems to happen.

Commands to work via Shell -> New Command

it sounds like somehow your account doesn't have a valid shell. If you do a Shell -> new command -> dscl . -read /Users/<username> shell

what does it say?


btw it should come back with something like...

mikeMbp:etc mike$ dscl . -read /Users/mike shell
dsAttrTypeNative:shell: /bin/bash

dsAttrTypeNative:shell: /bin/bash

That's all the command returned. Nothing like "mikeMbp:etc mike$ dscl . -read /Users/mike shell" was displayed.

Wow, so it just gives you a usage statement. Hmm.. Do you have any other users on the system?

Yes, in addition to the Admin account that I'm using, I have a Guest and Standard as well. All accounts have the same problem. I've even created a 2nd Admin account only to find the same problem there. The 2nd Admin account has been deleted.

Terminal has worked with my Admin, Guest and Standard account.

I first notice the problem when I activated PHP on Apache.

Ok, so it does return /bin/bash... you have a defined shell, great!

what does an ls -l /bin/bash show?

Dysfunction said:

Ok, so it does return /bin/bash... you have a defined shell, great!

what does an ls -l /bin/bash show?

Click to expand...

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1244928 May 31 2008 /bin/bash

well, looks like that's all there. I can not think of any reason that changing the php.ini would prevent you from logging in and gaining a shell. You could try removing the php.ini

mv /private/etc/php.ini /private/etc/php.foo

Removing the php.ini made not difference

Has this been persistent through a reboot?

sorry for being a noob.

What do you mean by persistent through a reboot? How can I tell?

Have you rebooted your computer?

Yes I have.

I've also turned Web Sharing off, rebooted, and launched Terminal again...no luck

hrm, have you tried repairing permissions and running maintenance scripts? (periodic daily weekly monthly)

so if I understood you posts right, when the Terminal starts, it is already being used by something in the background?

if that is true, try "ps -a" to see what has a terminal assigned


EDIT:
ok, something silly, try to open a new tab