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Oracle Troubleshooting

ORA-09352: OracleService(SID) has not been started

Symptom:

The error:

ORA-09352: OracleService(SID) has not been started

typically when trying to use svrmgr23.

Cause:

The service ‘OracleService<SID>’ has not been started.

This is an Oracle 7 error. The error number means something completely different in Oracle 8 and a different text message will be displayed for Oracle 8.

Possible remedies:

  • Go to Control Panel > Services and select the service ‘OracleService<SID>’. Start it manually. This service should be set to ‘automatic’ unless there is a reason for not starting it automatically after a reboot of the machine.
  • Start the service manually by tying at the DOS prompt:

    Net start OracleService<SID>

Both of these will cure the specific problem, but the database will still be down. Remember to start it up.

  • This error has been observed after renaming the Oracle SID. The default SID that the system connected to was the ‘old’ SID and not the new one. It may therefore be that it is trying to connect to an instance that does not exist. Try setting ORACLE_SID in the registry. Verify the SID that is being connected to or specify the tns alias explicitly.

These notes have been tested with Oracle 7.3.4 running under Windows NT.

This page represents one page of many pages of notes I made whilst working with Oracle 7 through to 10i. I now no longer work with Oracle databases, but hope that these notes will continue to be of benefit to others.

About the author: is a dedicated software developer and webmaster. For his day job he develops websites and desktop applications as well as providing IT services. He moonlights as a technical author and consultant.