Startup Error in 10.3.9 - Apple appears then goies to Terminal

Hi Folks
Yesterday my hard drive was getting quite full, so I copied a load of work over to an External drive. Upon restart, the Apple Logo appears, then the screen goes black (looks similar to Terminal) and the message:
-sh: /etc/profile: is a directory
-sh-2.05b#
appears. Unfortunately I have no idea what this means. I've run the disk repair which came up with some errors and fixed them, other than that I'm stumped.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Kind Regards
Mark
Power Mac G4 700 Mhz, 160GB HD, 768MB RAM   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

My computer just did the same last weekend . . . booted to the black screen with the message "-sh-2.05#", but . . . it was after I had backed up to my external drive and ran Tech Tool Pro and passed everything. So, I rebooted the computer and ran Disk Utility and fixed permissions. Then, I rebooted with Tech Tool Pro to optimize the drive. It defragged the files but failed repeatedly to defrag the drive. Using my other iBook, I researched Apple's website and started the computer in Safe Mode and had an incredible kernel panic with all kinds of machine language superimposed over the regular kernel panic telling me in four languages to reboot my computer. At that time, I started from the Install CD since it would not boot, verified and fixed permissions . . . and verfied and fixed the drive . . . rebooted . . . and the computer reverted to the Install CD telling me I needed to reinstall OS 10.3. I chose Archive and Install . . . AND Preserve Users and Network Settings. Before I could log into the computer, I had to reset my password since it would not acknowledge me. Now, I have a lot of dead applications and have looked into my Previous System file for the preserved information, and . . . there are no Users in the file! I reinstalled iPhoto5 . . . lost a bunch of pictures . . . didn't lose my mail . . . did lose all my Safari bookmarks . . . can't open anything in Word but still have my Excel program and documents . . . lost my stickie notes but not iCal (which is not as good a brain as my stickie notes). Now what do I do????? Dump the Previous System? Or is it hiding my "stuff" somewhere that I don't know to look?
Dixie
iBook 700Mhz, 640 ram, 30GB (almost full)   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

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