Thread: PostgreSQL won't start

PostgreSQL won't start

From
"Lee Hachadoorian"
Date:
Last week I set up Postgres 8.3 on a WindowsXP machine.  Had it up and
running and imported data.  Now when I try to start the server (after
a machine restart) I get the message:

********************************************************************************************
pg_ctl: another server might be running; trying to start server anyway
PANIC:  could not open control file "global/pg_control": Permission denied

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information.
server starting
********************************************************************************************

In the archives I've seen suggestions to make sure to start using the
postgres account (I am), make sure postgres is configured as a service
(it is), and make sure global/pg_control and the rest of the
PostgreSQL directory has read/write access (it does).  What else can I
try to start the server?

Thanks,
Lee Hachadoorian
PhD Student, Geography
Program in Earth & Environmental Sciences
CUNY Graduate Center

Re: PostgreSQL won't start

From
"Scott Marlowe"
Date:
On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 10:49 AM, Lee Hachadoorian
<lee.hachadoorian@gmail.com> wrote:
> Last week I set up Postgres 8.3 on a WindowsXP machine.  Had it up and
>  running and imported data.  Now when I try to start the server (after
>  a machine restart) I get the message:
>
>  ********************************************************************************************
>  pg_ctl: another server might be running; trying to start server anyway
>  PANIC:  could not open control file "global/pg_control": Permission denied
>
>  This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
>  Please contact the application's support team for more information.
>  server starting
>  ********************************************************************************************

If it was running and now isn't, the most common cause is anti-virus
software having an exclusive lock on a file.  Or changing it's
ownership or permissions.

Re: PostgreSQL won't start

From
"Scott Marlowe"
Date:
On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 10:49 AM, Lee Hachadoorian
<lee.hachadoorian@gmail.com> wrote:
> Last week I set up Postgres 8.3 on a WindowsXP machine.  Had it up and
>  running and imported data.  Now when I try to start the server (after
>  a machine restart) I get the message:
>
>  ********************************************************************************************
>  pg_ctl: another server might be running; trying to start server anyway
>  PANIC:  could not open control file "global/pg_control": Permission denied

Or it could just be that you do already have another postmaster up and
running already.

Re: PostgreSQL won't start

From
"Lee Hachadoorian"
Date:
It was far stupider than that.  I had been playing around with a
couple of different data clusters before doing a complete reinstall of
PostgreSQL.  I just realized I was trying to start a cluster that I
was no longer using and the postgres account didn't have appropriate
permissions for.  It's one of those things where once you ask the
question, you realize that the answer is implicit in the question.

But a useful followup question is, how do I make this start itself
when Windows starts?  The service is set up to run as postgres and
execute

"C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.3\bin\pg_ctl.exe" runservice -w -N
"pgsql-8.3" -D "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.3\data\"

This *is* pointing to the right data cluster (which I'm able to start
successfully from the command line), but it's not starting
automatically (even though it's configured to) and when I try to start
it manually within the Component Services Manager, it generates the
following error:

Error 1069: The service did not start due to a logon failure.

Thanks,
Lee Hachadoorian
PhD Student, Geography
Program in Earth & Environmental Sciences
CUNY Graduate Center

On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 2:05 PM, Scott Marlowe <scott.marlowe@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 10:49 AM, Lee Hachadoorian
>  <lee.hachadoorian@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Last week I set up Postgres 8.3 on a WindowsXP machine.  Had it up and
>  >  running and imported data.  Now when I try to start the server (after
>  >  a machine restart) I get the message:
>  >
>  >  ********************************************************************************************
>  >  pg_ctl: another server might be running; trying to start server anyway
>  >  PANIC:  could not open control file "global/pg_control": Permission denied
>
>  Or it could just be that you do already have another postmaster up and
>  running already.
>

Re: PostgreSQL won't start

From
Magnus Hagander
Date:
On Wed, 2008-03-12 at 14:22 -0400, Lee Hachadoorian wrote:
> It was far stupider than that.  I had been playing around with a
> couple of different data clusters before doing a complete reinstall of
> PostgreSQL.  I just realized I was trying to start a cluster that I
> was no longer using and the postgres account didn't have appropriate
> permissions for.  It's one of those things where once you ask the
> question, you realize that the answer is implicit in the question.
>
> But a useful followup question is, how do I make this start itself
> when Windows starts?  The service is set up to run as postgres and
> execute
>
> "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.3\bin\pg_ctl.exe" runservice -w -N
> "pgsql-8.3" -D "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.3\data\"
>
> This *is* pointing to the right data cluster (which I'm able to start
> successfully from the command line), but it's not starting
> automatically (even though it's configured to) and when I try to start
> it manually within the Component Services Manager, it generates the
> following error:
>
> Error 1069: The service did not start due to a logon failure.
>

The error message tells you exactly what the problem. The service
account specified for the service cannot log in. It's either the wrong
password, the wrong username, or the account is disabled/expired.

//Magnus