Postgre server seems dead - 'system error 5'

[armor32]

After over 2.5 years of super stable and glitch-less use, time for trouble. PT3 stopped working in the middle of a session (spitting SQL errors instead of data, etc').
On restart attempt, getting this error:
Error connection to the server: server closed the connection unexpectedly
This probably means the server terminated abnormally before or while processing the request.

Same error when trying to connect to the server on PG admin.

When trying to restart the server using a shortcut under PG admin program bar, command prompt appears saying "More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 3521. System error 5 has occurred. Access denied. The restart command returned an error <2>"

This is Postgre 8.4

How should I resurrect the server?

thanks a lot!

[kraada]

Error 5 tends to be a permissions issue - what version of Windows is this?

[armor32]

Hi,
this is Win-7

[armor32]

some more information: the DB went down when I browsed to some news web page and opened a talk-back post over there. Talk back posts open in a separate pop-up window. This time around, internet explorer got frozen and doesn't work any more as well (loads and gets stuck). So it looks like a more general Windows system level error which broke the IE as well. But everything else works fine - poker client, media player etc'... Any ideas how to try fix it without reinstalling the entire OS ?

[kraada]

Click Start, type Event Viewer, and click on it when it appears. Click in the Applications section in the top left and look in the top center for errors relating to PostgreSQL - is there anything else in addition to the error 5 message?

[armor32]

Unfortunately, I restarted the computer since then and no postgre-related logs appear in the event viewer (unless prior events saved somewhere else ?)

I have a recent backup of the DB. What would be the best way to resurrect my PT3 system? Uninstall Postgre and install it again? If yes, how do I do the uninstall first ? Or is there a better way to approach this ?


thanks again for your quick support!

[WhiteRider]

If you still get the same error when you try to run PT3 (or PostgreSQL) then you should get new information in the event viewer. What exactly is happening now?

I doubt that a resinstall or recovery of backup would help - until you can start the PostgreSQL service you won't be able to restore a backup.

[armor32]

Hi again,
I was able to find some log messages in the Event Viewer:

Timed out waiting for server startup
2011-11-25 20:17:01 PST FATAL: could not create any TCP/IP sockets
pg_ctl: could not send reload signal (PID: 1476): Operation not permitted

I have removed installation of PostgreSQL (through Control Panel -> Programs). I did not delete Postgre Data directory. Then I reinstalled Postgre. During installation, I pointed the install program to existing Postgre Data directory and it detected it properly. However, reinstall did not help - I am still not able to start PostgreSQL service. When I attempt to start it, I get same 'error 5' message.
I am sure that I do remember correct PostgreSQL account passord because when I was re-installing the server, it asked me for it to reuse existing data directory.
So now I am worried, would I have to reinstall the entire system (Win7) to revive my PostgreSQL ? I hope not... Any thoughts ?

[WhiteRider]

A simple uninstall of PostgreSQL will not work correctly - please follow the guide in the Documentation to fully uninstall and reinstall. You can still keep your data folder.
If you still have problems after that please open a Support ticket and one of our support technicians will work with you to get things sorted out.

[armor32]

done, I reinstalled following the procedures (deleted ODBC application, deleted postgres account) - still no luck starting the server. This time around, it shows this error:
2011-11-27 18:43:20 PST FATAL: could not create any TCP/IP sockets

I opened a ticket.