Unable to open gnome-terminal, xterm, konsole

[David Guchua <suetekh@gmail.com>]

Using debian sarge. Kernel 2.6.14. After recent "apt-get upgrade" I am
no longer able to open terminals in X under any user but root. Just get
"There was an error creating the child process for 
this terminal."Any help will be appreciated. I've googled but have found no working solution.