blob load errors

I have two machines running the same small java program; one machine can
load files as blobs,
the other gets the oidin error. This happens even when the same
postgresql server is acccessed;
the local upload works on machine A, the local upload fails on machine
B, and upload to machine Aover tcpip fails as well. Both machines are
running pgsql7.2.3, using jdbc7.1-1.3.jar, jdk1.4.0x, kernel 2.4.18 on
redhat 7.3

this is the insert statement
try
{
//ist fld is serial id, 2nd is name, 3rd is oid
String sqlstr =  "INSERT INTO images(imgname, imgoid) VALUES(?,?)";
pst = conn.prepareStatement(sqlstr);
System.out.println("pst = "+pst);
}//end try

below is output from posmaster on machine A from machine B

DEBUG:  query: begin;
DEBUG:  parse tree: { QUERY :command 5  :utility ?  :resultRelation 0
:into <> :isPortal false :isBinary false :isTemp false :hasAggs false
:hasSubLinks false :rtable <> :jointree <> :rowMarks () :targetList <>
:groupClause <> :havingQual <> :distinctClause <> :sortClause <>
:limitOffset <> :limitCount <> :setOperations <> :resultRelations ()}
DEBUG:  ProcessUtility: begin;
DEBUG:  CommitTransactionCommand
DEBUG:  StartTransactionCommand
DEBUG:  query: INSERT INTO images
HERE NEXT LINE SHORTENED UP
 VALUES('doss','\\377WPC^\\012\\000\\000\\001\\012\\002\\001\\000\\000\\000\\002\\005\\0\\000\\324')
ERROR:  pg_atoi: error in "doss": can't parse "doss"
DEBUG:  AbortCurrentTransaction
DEBUG:  StartTransactionCommand
DEBUG:  query: commit;begin;

Any help greatly appreciated.
TIA
rfjones