hi, im having a little bit of trouble creating a user account in redhat linux 7.1
i got redhat with a bookcalled the linux bible and the book is sometimes a bit patchy on what im meant to be actually doing...

ive added the username in the /etc/passwd file and have set up home and such, got most of the login files there, but cant find the .login file and another one i cant remember

ive done this all under the root account of course and then logged out to see if the account worked, but i would try to log in and the screen would go blank and return me to the login screen.

i tried to use the GUI method to make the account but couldnt find the linuxconf utility on the menu's anywhere

the actual account name is called 'user', im not sure if this is the problem as when i try to make a password i get some sort of validation table error and the password doesnt change.

the entry in /etc/passwd is something like (sketchy details as the box is in another town)
user::500:501: user:/home/user:/usr/user

something lke that i think, any clarification or help would be great as i'm fairly new to linux and want to learn a few things like setting up a internet connection with linux as a firewalland other stuff