The name of the password file must be of the format $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/orapw{$ORACLE_SID }because the name and location of the password file is hard coded in the file "sparams.h" (the line is: # define SS_SIDPWFILE_DEFAULT "?/dbs/orapw@"). Thus, the file must be put in the "dbs" directory and named "orapw".