I've found the problem with inserting pseudo-infinite values into database tables, and can now insert the infinity-ish values OK. The problem was actually that pg_dump was losing precision when it dumped out the old values. The numbers were being rounded up at the 13th or so decimal place, causing an overflow. So my question is now different: why does pg_dump lose precision, and can I somehow persuade it not to? And, btw, it'd be nice to have some assurance that support for these extreme case values really is supported officially, and isn't a bug that will be "fixed" in some future version :-). Tim -- ----------------------------------------------- Tim Allen [EMAIL PROTECTED] Proximity Pty Ltd http://www.proximity.com.au/ http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/rita_tim/