please send teh output of
cat /etc/fstab
and of
cat /etc/mtab
I dont think that you changed anything in '/etc/fstab' cause what you described (change of Prompt to >) means, that the shell awaits further commands.
If you typed the command as discribed, this is the correct behaviour, because you tried to have multiple input-files.
Try to type the command the following way:
cat >> /etc/fstab << HERE
/dev/hdb2 /home ext3 defaults, errors=remount-rw 0 1
HERE
After you typed in 'cat >> /etc/fstab << HERE' and hit RETURN the Prompt should change to ">"
Then type in '/dev...' in the following line hit RETURN
and type in 'HERE' in the following line and hit RETURN
After that you should have your normal PS1 Prompt
Now check the outputs of
cat /etc/fstab
and of
cat /etc/mtab
again.
You should find a new line "/dev/hdb2 /home ext3 defaults, errors=remount-rw 0 1" at the end of '/etc/fstab'.
The command 'mount -a' mounts all filesystems in /etc/fstab. So it should work cause you mount the new /home over the old but if this works correct I would recommend, that you delete your or remark your old '/etc/fstab'-entry for the /home-directory.