help with failure to connect over a network

Greetings,

1I )Recently changed a machine from SuSE7.3 to SuSE8.0
2)I had used pg_diump to backup a database and restored it after i made a new
(from source) postgres installation.
3) i edited pg-hba.conf to allow network use and postgresql.conf and set
tcp_socket=true.
3) I made starting script as i had before to start the database with the -i
option.
4) On the machine with the server I connected with pgaccess (and evn
Openoffice via jdbc and odbc) fine as before.

Also I had set relaxed firewall rules on the SuSE8 machine.

A few days later I tried connecting over a network (with linux clients) which
I was able to do before).. it refuses to budge with psql,. pgaccess, ODBC,
JDBC clients. It is connecting fine locally. . Suggestions on the possible
causes and fixes are welcomed.

regards
sibu.