Oracle 8i Database Will Not Install on NT

I've seen several messages here about installation problems of Oracle 8i on Windows NT. I received the CD from Oracle TechNet last week. I, also, failed to get the installation completed. The new Installer seems to work great
(wonderful new interface). However, I can install the Client Products
(Option 2) and the Developer Products (Option 3). However, when I attempt to
install the database (Option 1), nothing happens. Period.

I've chosen the Full Installation, Minimal Installation,and even the Custom Installation. Each time, the CD spins and whirls for about a minute, hard-drive activity furiously works away, then suddenly the Installation splash screen reappears and the installer screen just goes away with no error messages. Nothing. Just a splash screen staring at me (and vice versa).

I've checked the logfiles in \Program Files\Oracle\Inventory and it appears to progress nicely querying for disk space, memory, etc. until it makes a call to a Java Class to get NodeName, then the logfile ends. No error messages whatsoever. Almost "Twilight Zone" stuff here. Anyway, I followed all of the instructions TO THE LETTER, including making a new oracle home to separate it from my installed version of Oracle 8.0.5. I even de-installed 8.0.5, cleaned the registry. I've even moved everything out of the Startup folder and shutdown all unnecessary applications. Everything. System specs below. Any clues would be appreciated.

Windows NT 4.0, Service Pack 4
128 MB RAM
4.8 GB free space on target drive
2.6 GB free on TEMP directory drive
Pentium II @450 MHz

I did notice that when attempting to install the database before installing anything else (Client or Developer), the Java Runtime Engine (JRE) didn't even get installed. In fact nothing happened except the new ORA8I_HOME directory was created.

I've de-installed the entire product, and re-installed 8.0.5 (which still works great). I'm waiting for an answer from Oracle or anyone before re-attempting this frustrating action again. I've also ordered the Oracle 8i for Linux CD. Maybe that one will work on my Linux partition.

Allan Kelly Received on Sun Apr 25 1999 - 09:16:16 CDT