Oracle Startup Error

[vbecker]

An end-user was messing with a PC that uses an Oracle database, I don't know if he deleted or moved a file or something but now when we double-click the database icon we receive the following errors:

Unable to make connection

ORA-01017 Invalid username/password login denied (440)

Then the login box pops up but none of the usernames/passwords work.

Thanks in advance.

 

[SantaMufasa]

V,

Usually, that error does not mean that a file has been messed with; it just means that the username/password combination you entered does not match information that the database has.

Now down to resolving your problem at hand. First, whenever you have a request like this, it is important to furnish the following information: Oracle version, Machine make/model, Operating system, whether or not you have DBA privileges, what software you are/were using to interact with the Oracle db, and a copy and paste of both what you were doing and the resulting error message. So far, I infer that you were trying to connect and you received the above error message.

Could you please post answers to the above questions, and we can go from there. In the meantime, knowing the little I know about your situation, I would try the following:

1) (From a DOS prompt) svrmgrl
2) connect internal
3) alter user <username_that_failed_earlier> identified by <password_that_failed>;

Then try your connection again that failed earlier.

Let us know the results of the above experiment, as well.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA @ 18:11 (17Dec03) GMT, 11:11 (17Dec03) Mountain Time)

 

[vbecker]

Thanks for the info Mufasa. I tried your idea; I don't have svrmgrl on my system but I used svrmgr30 instead. When I entered the alter user command the system replied that the user was not logged on. The error occurs no matter which logon we try.

I am running Oracle 8 for NT on an HP Vectra PC with Windows NT 4.0. The program we are interfacing with Oracle is DC Books, a Police department booking software program.
Here is the sequence of events:

Double-click the DCBooks icon
Receive error &quot;Error-unable to make connection, ORA-01017; invalid username/password; logon denied (440)
Hit Enter to clear error
Receive error &quot;Error can't connect to docubook database (440)
Hit Enter to clear error
DCBooks login box appears
Enter any username and password
Receive error &quot;Error-Oracle Error 91; object variable or with block variable not set
Hit Enter to clear error
Receive error &quot;Error access denied&quot;

Thanks again.
Val

 

[vbecker]

P.S.
I have DBA privileges.

Val

 

[SantaMufasa]

Val,

Sorry. I presumed that you were familiar with &quot;svrmgrl&quot;. Once you invoke &quot;svrmgrl&quot;, you must next issue the command, &quot;connect internal<enter>&quot;. If it responds with &quot;connected&quot;, then the database is &quot;up&quot;; if it responds with &quot;connected to an idle instance.&quot; then the next thing I would do under the circumstances is issue the command, &quot;startup&quot;.

Try that, plus the commands I recommended earlier, then post the results.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA @ 02:47 (18Dec03) GMT, 19:47 (17Dec03) Mountain Time)

 

[vbecker]

Mufasa,
No I'm not familiar with Oracle, I'm primarily a network administrator and I work with Informix and Access.
This morning I ran svrmgrl and then &quot;connect internal&quot;. The system replied &quot;connected&quot;. I then ran &quot;alter user&quot; but still received the same errors as noted in the previous posts.
I then stopped and started the listener and received the following errors:
TNS-12545: Connect failed because target host or object does not exist
TNS-12560: Protocol adapter error
TNS-00515: Connect failed because target host or object does not exist 32 bit Windows error:1001: unknown system error

 

[SantaMufasa]

Val,

Let's step back a moment and confirm some information. Could you please provide answers to the following:

Platform (CPU and O/S) of database:
Version of the db:
Contents of ORACLE_HOME variable on db machine:
Contents of ORACLE_SID variable on db machine:
Contents of the PATH variable on the db machine:
When logged in on the db machine, are you a member of the DBA group (Y/N)?:
What command did you issue to confirm that?:
What were the pasted results of that command?:
Client machine (CPU and O/S):
Contents of ORACLE_HOME variable on client machine:
Contents of the PATH variable on the client machine:
Version of the Oracle client:

Let's go that far and see what we get.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA @ 19:46 (18Dec03) GMT, 12:46 (18Dec03) Mountain Time)

 

[vbecker]

Platform (CPU and O/S) of database: X86 and Win Nt 4.0
Version of the db:8
Contents of ORACLE_HOME variable on db machine:can't find
Contents of ORACLE_SID variable on db machine:can't find
Contents of the PATH variable on the db machine:d:\orant\bin;c:\winnt\system32;c:\winnt;c:\larimore\system
When logged in on the db machine, are you a member of the DBA group (Y/N)?:I'm not sure, we've tried all the logins that we have and get the same error with each
What command did you issue to confirm that?:
What were the pasted results of that command?:
Client machine (CPU and O/S):same as above, everything is running on one PC
Contents of ORACLE_HOME variable on client machine:
Contents of the PATH variable on the client machine:
Version of the Oracle client:8

 

[SantaMufasa]

Val,

It will take a couple of more posts to resolve all the questions, but first let's resolve these issues:

*** To confirm who has ORA_DBA privileges, please do the following:

1) Log into the PC with the database as someone with Domain-Administrator privileges.
2) From your desktop,
<right-click>My Computer..Manage..<rt click>Computer management..System Tools..Local Users and Groups..Groups, click [ORA_DBA] to see the users that are Oracle DBAs. Please post the names of the users that appear in the ORA_DBA group.

*** To confirm the ORACLE_SID, navigate: Start..Settings..Control Panel..Services, scroll down (alphabetically) and observe the name attached to the service, &quot;OracleService<some_name>&quot;. &quot;<Some_name>&quot; is your Oracle System IDentifier (Oracle SID). Please post your ORACLE_SID.

*** To confirm your ORACLE_HOME, Use Windows File Search to locate &quot;sqlplus*.exe&quot;. Please post the fully qualified path that holds sqlplus*.exe. (From that, we can identify your ORACLE_HOME.)

Please post the responses from above, then we can continue.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA @ 22:19 (18Dec03) GMT, 15:19 (18Dec03) Mountain Time)

 

[vbecker]

Thanks for all your help but yesterday a tech from the booking software company came out; he knew less about Oracle than I do so he just wiped out the database (goodbye two years of booking information) and started new. We needed to get it working before the weekend because it was causing trouble not being able to book people at our station.
Thanks again for your help though.
Val

 

[SantaMufasa]

Val,

In retrospect, to let you know your options, you could have created a new database without destroying &quot;two years of booking information.&quot; I'm positive we could have started your database, while you used the new database to do interim bookings.

In emergencies like this, I'm certain that Dave Murphy (Tecumseh/Tek-Tips president) wouldn't have minded our making direct contact to get your feet away from the fire, instead of losing two-years-worth of work.

We're here to help.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA @ 19:03 (19Dec03) GMT, 12:03 (19Dec03) Mountain Time)

 

[vbecker]

The tech did ghost my hard drive before he wiped it out and is going to send the old database to someone who &quot;knows&quot; Oracle. If he can get the old database up they'll come back and merge the old data into the new database.
Thanks again