psql: FATAL: Missing or erroneous pg_hba.conf file

hi,

I am working on postgres 7.3.2 and i get an error while creating a user.
as,
psql: FATAL:  Missing or erroneous pg_hba.conf file, see postmaster log for
details
i dunno what goes wrong...
i searched the archives and found that that may be a problem with
"\n" replaced with "\r\n".
But i am working on a linux 9.0 system fresh installed,
and didnt edit the conf file...

any help is appreciated
Thanks & regards,
Bijoy