NT 4 Oracle 7.3 Auto Start failure

Hi,

I have recently come across many NT 4 laptops failing to start up an instance, even though the start type is auto. This occurs to my certain knowledge with Oracle 7.3.2.0 and 7.3.3.4.

Both services start, but the instance does not. oradim73.log contains the standard messages and then something like 'Failure to startup database' and 'Failed to start instance'. Pardon, I am not at work and cannot recollect the exact message.

The alert log shows the standard database startup message and the last entry is the RECO process spawn, nothing else. I can find no other logs, trace files, or problems with the NT event viewer.

strt<sid>.cmd from the command line produces exactly the same results. The oradim73 -start again produces exactly the same results.

Anyone out there seen this? I have logged a call with Oracle, and am awaiting feedback. Altyernatively, any idea how to go about debugging this.

TIA. Tony

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S. A. Sequeira tony_at_sequeira.powernet.co.uk