Java EE (Java Enterprise Edition) General Discussion

We recently updated the AppServer Platform Edition from 8.0 to 8.1_02. We have almost 2 years experience with the 8.0. When running the admin console and also our Web Application we are now getting a java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused message at the App Server console. The OS is Red Hat WS3 with all upgrades and the jdk is 1.5. It seems that the jsp will load, the applet will load and throw many of the messages but still run. The application finally gets in trouble when it finally tries to access a servlet. RMI is running and it appears we have all functionality with the Deploy Tool also verification does not have any failures. The IDE is NetBeans 4.1 which has worked flawlessly. We never experienced these problems with Platform Edition 8.0 which is sill installed and does work. I have checked all port numbers and that RMI is running. Any suggestions as to where to look to solve the problem would be greatly appreciated.