It sounds as though your /bin/login is missing or broken... that's what does the password requests.
If my Debian box is anything to go by (it should be, since it uses PAM for logins, and I think Red Hat was the first distro to do that) even having a broken /etc/passwd would probably still get you a password prompt and a "Login incorrect".
*** /me foolishly tries ***
Yep, if you move /etc/passwd to /etc/pwd it still asks for a password, it just fails to authenticate it (don't worry, I opened a root shell on a spare virtual console first, so I could move it back without any problems :-).
Assuming you can get in (add "single" or "init=/bin/sh" to the kernel parameters, or use a bootable disk/CD if you have one - Debian install CDs give you a root shell for recovery purposes, dunno if Red Hat does) try looking at logfiles. On Debian, /bin/login complains to /var/log/auth.log - your logging may vary, but it'll be somewhere near there. |
