No server after starting

First, I am new to Postgres. I am hoping to migrate an existing Java application from a couple of tried but unreliable open source Java databases. I have a fair amount of experience with Oracle, Informix and DB2 but it has been a few years. No on to my problem.

I finally got PostgreSQL installed on Windows XP as a service. After restarting the computer, the Task Manager shows 5 postgres.exe processes running. From a CMD window, I issue a pg_ctl status command and get the response: "No server running." What am I doing wrong. I took all the defaults on installation except for assigning a password rather than a random generated one.

Earlier today, I had it installed as a program and all worked fine after creating and initializing the database cluster. I was able to start the database from a non-admin user. Then I could check status and even shutdown as an admin user. I have added the ...\bin directory to the PATH and added the PGDATA environment variable. After this, I decided to remove Postgres and reinstall it as a service.

Thanks for any help,
Bayless