It looks like a corrupted-data kind of problem. Can you extract a reproducible test case?
The problem was the hardware!!On a second system (Mac Power G5) there was no failure, i.e. the error is not reproducible.
Thanks for your help. Rudolf VanderLeeden ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 3: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq