And according to www.orafaq.com:
oh boo hoo! a little alter session never hurt nobody

SQL> alter session set optimizer_max_permutations=1999;

Session altered.

SQL>


alas he has not answered my questions on the configuration

> Is this PeopleSoft

> What do you mean by not coming out at all? Do you wait 2 minutes and ctrl+c, 20 minutes