postgresql database not starting "postmaster does not start"

[t3]

I attempted both a manual and an automatic installation of SIM on SUSE linux enterprise 9. The istall manual indicates that I should be running version 7.4.2-36.3, which I am (used the rpms that came bundled with the install).

Everything goes well, until I try to load the postgresql database (after the mxinitconfig testing and initialization phase). I get an error message at the console stating:

postgresqlpg_ctl: postmaster does not start.

/var/log/postgresql has repeated entries:

no pg_hba.conf entry for host"[local]", user "postgres", database "template1", SSL off.

After researching that error message, I tried adding:

host all all xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx 255.255.255.255

to my pg_hba_conf file and setting the tcpip_socket value to "true, but still no luck (Should those configurations be necessary anyway???).

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.