restart error - Mailing list pgsql-novice

[postgresql@stell ~]$ ps axuw | grep postmaster
502      11134  0.0  0.2 19292 3020 pts/5    S    Sep22   0:00 /usr/local/pgsql/bin/postmaster -D /var/pgsql/data
502      21676  0.0  0.0  4788  656 pts/12   S+   10:42   0:00 grep postmaster
[postgresql@stell ~]$ pg_ctl restart  -D /var/pgsql/data
waiting for postmaster to shut down............................................................... failed
pg_ctl: postmaster does not shut down
[postgresql@stell ~]$

yet postmaster is gone:
[postgresql@stell ~]$ ps axuw | grep postmaster
502      21717  0.0  0.0  4640  644 pts/12   R+   10:52   0:00 grep postmaster

server.log not updated...?
[postgresql@stell ~]$ ls -l /home/postgresql/server.log
-rw-rw-r--  1 postgresql postgresql 2343 Aug 23 09:48 /home/postgresql/server.log

How can I figure out what the problem is?