postgreSQL - problem with connection

 Hello,

 I installed postgreSQL 7.3.2 on RedHat 8.0 successfully, and reated a
database and a user. I also added these lines
 in the pg_hba.conf file.

 local  mydb    myuser     password  host   mydb    myuser     127.0.0.1
255.255.255.255      password  host   mydb    myuser     0.0.0.0
0.0.0.0              password

 When i tried to get connected to my application with this setting, i got
the  following error

 java.sql.SQLException: FATAL: Password authentication failed for user
"myuser"

 I observed that, unlike the lower versions of postgreSQL, the db user's
password is stored in encrypted form (i think md5) in the pg_shadow table.
Is this the reason for  the problem ?
I also gave 'md5' instead of 'password', but didn't work (only 'trust' works
!!!)


 please let me know the solutions to the above problems at the earliest,
thanks in advance,

 regards
ramesh