Re: Initial database fails, even as part of install process

It sounds like you'd done previous installs on that machine. If so there were probably Oracle pieces left behind and they may be causing your problem. You didn't say what os but it sounds like NT. I'd try cleaning up your machine then doing another typical install with a database created for you. If that works you can go back and install other pieces and change your database.

Here's how to clean your NT machine

8189

Removing Oracle from NT.
1) First run the installer and allow it to uninstall anything that it can. If the installer itself won't run see if you have a version earlier than around January of 2000. Those versions are non-Y2K compliant and will no longer work. Follow the rest of the instructions but be aware you'll need a compliant installer to install anything after you have wiped out the old Oracle pieces.

2) In ControlPanel/Services shut down all the Oracle services and set them to disabled.

3) Go to any Oracle folders and put everything into the trash that you can.  (Remember to check your C drive - Oracle puts things there even if you install to another drive)

4) Clean out the registry. Some people like to back up the registry first. I use regedit for this work. Under the edit menu choose find and check the boxes for keys and values only. Where it says find what put in the letters ora. Press find next. You will get everything relating to Oracle that you need to get rid of. You will also get anything else that has the letters ora in it - Eudora, storage, etc. Get rid of everything you can identify as Oracle (except the Microsoft Oracle ODBC keys). If you have any doubts, and there are very few ambiguous cases, then leave the key or value alone. I delete the Oracle keys and leave the Oracle values but set them to an empty string instead of whatever Oracle information they contained. Oracle will also appear in Microsoft's legacy keys which you are not permitted to delete. Don't worry about these. After you have worked through the registry go back and start over with find. This time uncheck keys and values and check data. There will be a lot fewer hits this time through. Note that values which have to do with environmental settings such as PATH and CLASSPATH may have information in them for both Oracle and other applications. Remove just the parts that have to do with Oracle.

5) If there were any Oracle folders you could not get rid of in step 3, try again. You may still not be able to trash everything.

6) Reboot. Now you should be able to trash any pieces that were left over and you should see no Oracle services remaining. Check your environmental variables. They too should be Oracle free.

7) You are ready for a clean new install.

Van

"Wayne Pascoe" <wayne.pascoe_at_realtime.co.uk> wrote in message news:m1wv8slwq6.fsf_at_zaphod.realtime.co.uk...
> Hi there,
>
> We whacked the config on our box that I am learning Oracle on, so this
> time round, I went with a typical install, not a custom one.
>
> I started out with the runInstaller command and chose installation
> location. I then sat back and watched it install. After changing to
> the second CD, it pops up a window saying that a command needs to be
> run as root. I open a new terminal to the machine, sudo su - and run
> /opt/oracle/product/8.1.7/root.sh
>
> Once that completes, I click OK and installation continues. Then I get
> a screen saying
>
> Configuration Tools
> The following tools will be automatically started for you:
> These tools are optional.
> It is recommended, although not required, that these tools be run
> successfully.
>
> Then there is a list
> Net8 Configuration Assistant
> Oracle Database Configuration Assistant
> Starting web server in non-SSL mode on port 7777
>
> After a couple of seconds, a blue tick appears to the right of Net8
> Configuration assistant and the status changes to pending.
>
> Now a window pops up saying Database Creation progress
> Creating and starting Oracle instance goes ok.
> Copying database files goes ok.
>
> When it gets to Initialising database, I get a popup saying
> ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
>
> What am I supposed to be doing at this point that I'm missing? :(
>
> I'm sorry to keep bugging with this, but neither Oracle Essentials nor
> Oracle Database Administration from O'reilly cover this issue.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> --
> - Wayne Pascoe
> E-mail: wayne.pascoe_at_realtime.co.uk
> Phone : +44 (0) 20 7544 4668
> Mobile: +44 (0) 788 431 1675
Received on Tue Apr 10 2001 - 21:13:39 CDT