BASH-3.0 Command Recall Problem

[alupu]

I've installed the latest BASH from sources (bash-3.0.tar.gz).
On this bash (3.00.0) the UP/DOWN-arrow command recall feature is messed-up.
Typical bad behavior:
Assume I am at the "blank" prompt after having executed in sequence cmd[n-2],
then cmd[n-1] and finally cmd[n].
I now press the UP-arrow three times (and see cmd[n-2], as I would expect).
So far so good.
>From there I start pressing the DOWN-arrow.
On first press I get cmd[n-1] (OK), on second, cmd[n] (OK).
On third press expecting to get back to the "blank" prompt,
I get cmd[n-1] instead.
And it goes like that from there, worse and worse, as if the
DOWN-arrow cannot properly scan the history buffer
(still in memory until the logout, I suppose).

As soon as I restore (in /bin) my original bash (2.05b.0)
and log out and back in, everything goes back to normal.

i686-pc-linux-gnu, kernel-2.6.10, glibc-2.3.3, gcc-3.4.3, etc.
The only HIST*  variables in the environment ( all three common to both bash 
versions):
 HISTFILE=/root/.bash_history
 HISTFILESIZE=10000
 HISTSIZE=10000
(plenty of disk space and memory)

Please help,
Thanks
-- Alex