Have you used the export statement? It should be something like:
Code:
export PATH="/new/path:/another/new/path:${PATH}
Carefully check the syntax and if in doubt post the entire content of the actual ~/.bashrc, as it is now.
Edit: I've just seen you've corrected your original post. Now it looks like the problem is that you did not included the original PATH in your statement. Look at my example and try to reproduce it exactly. It should work. Take in mind that you can always execute basic commands giving the full path on the command line. For example use:
to edit and correct your initialization file.