Oracle 8i Intelligent Agent Service problem

Hi!
We successfully installed Oracle 8i (8.1.7 ee) on Intel P-IV (Xeon) server running Windows 2000 Advanced server (Service Pack 2). It was working properly until now. There was no problem in implementing the tricks useful in installation. After that, database service "OracleService" presented problem by not automatically starting on computer startup but it was tamed by "Oradim" command added to startup folder.

All was going smoothly for about a month now but when I rebooted the server PC yesterday, the service "OracleAgent" failed to start. Along with it the DataGatherer and TNSListener services also failed (Only db service OracleService starts but very very slowly). The Windows Event Viewer descriped the problme for Agent service as ,"The OracleAgent service terminated with the following error: %%3221356551 ". The Event ID is always 7023 for this error. The rest of services just don't give any error codes. It is also stated that nothing has been installed/Uninstalled on this PC in the last several days and no configration changes, in tnsnames.ora, sqlnet.ora, listener.ora, win registry has been made. The TCP/IP configration are intact and NTFS folder and file rights are properly defined.

Starting the service using "Net Start " also failed with the message,"System error 7 has occured, Storage control blocks will be destroyed".

Searching online, I also performed some steps in correcting the problem like backup and delete all *.q, snmp_ro.ora, snmp_rw.ora, services.ora files. But to no help. The log files in Oracle_Home\network\logs also dont record the problem even after setting the trace level to Admin or 16. The Agent service simply refuses to start...

Reinstalling Oracle (over existing one, not first removing it altogether. We simply cann't do this now for data loss!!!) or just the Intelligent Agent itsself using univeral installer also fails at the end when it tries to start the intellegent Agent Service OracleAgent. This time the error described is "O/S error in starting service".

Is this something to do with Xeon server coz the same Oracle 8i is installed much before than this on another P-IV server (not xeon) running the same Op system and it never presented us this problem todate. Its also worth mentioning that this problem occured before as well, on the second day we installed Oracle 8i the first time on Xeon. Since there was no data then, we simply removed oracle, cleared registry and started all over again BUT now it cann't be done.

Any help shall be highly appreciated.

With Regards, Rashid.
SeaBird505 at yahoo.com

Sorry but you started to lose me near the end of paragraph 1 :)

At the most basic level you only need 2 services to run (OracleOraHome81TNSListener and OracleService) the rest are not needed unless you are using OEM, I'd concentrate on getting the listener and the database service started. The oracleservice can take an age to start - it depends upon how large you database is and what is doing (crash recovery?) don't worry about that, just keep an eye on the alert log.

you could reinstall oracle and keep the database but I don't think this is the way to go.....sounds like it would all go wrong and you'd lose the database.

Could you be more specific with what is and is not working?

Thanks for the reply Chrispy. Yes we only need TNSlistener and OracleService service to remain functional but in my case not just the agent is down, it has also taken the DataGatherer and most importantly the TNSlistener.
I can no longer connect to Oracle from either Svrmgrl.exe or SQL Plus. As TNS is down,I get Protocol adapter error.

Prior to this agent service problem, all services were happily running (DataGatherer, HTTPServer, TNSListener, OracleService), now they just follow their Agent :( .

Hey seabird,
From the command line set your oracle sid then type in the svrmgrl command. also if you type in lsnrtcl from the command line you can check your listner and start and stop it.
It doesn't matter if your listener is down or not, you should be able to get to the svrmgrl command.
set ORACLE_SID= your_sid

Remember what mrchrispy said, the important thing is to get your database backup and accessable to the users. Which means as long as the listener is up and running with the database. The other OEM stuff you can take care of later.

I've had that problem before but deleting the file you mention solved that problems (found that http://www.orafaq.com/faqoem.htm).

Is there anything in the listener log?
Can you start it via lsnrctl?
Have you the ORACLE_SID set in the registry? You don't need the listener if it is and your local (>sqlplus user/pass), you could at least see if the database is okay if you can log in.

chris

lol...got there before me Doc. I spend to much time checking what I'm saying - I have to try hard not to look like a n00b ;)

Hurrraaaaayyyyy, Its working...

Thanks Doc and Chrispy. Here is what I did. I run LsnrCTL.exe and entered Start. Like It used to inform me, the Listener didn't started :). However, the error msg was "Windows Error opening Log file, Permission denied". Hmmm, sounds path leading, I checked NTFS permission on c:\oracle folder. It was allowed Full Control only to Administrator. When I also added Everyone to the permission list and started tnslistner, It did start. Although I am logged in as Administrator I wonder why It also needs "Everyone" right on the folder.

Anyway, All is well that ends well, thanks to both of you again.:)