The resolution to this problem was to unset ORACLE_HOME in the system variables and bounce the server. I know that ORACLE_HOME is not required or recommended on Windows servers, but I have never encountered a problem with it before, even on multi-homed Oracle boxes. Thanks everyone for your suggestions. A couple of you thought it might be the ORACLE_HOME system variable; nice call. Jared On 5/23/05, Jared Still <jkstill@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > Boy, do I love patching. > > Especially Oracle. > > Especially Oracle on Windows. > > You could refer to it as the Full Employment for DBA's Under Pressure act. > > Having made the determination to patch the 9.2.0.6 <http://9.2.0.6>databases > on a > new server that is supposed to go live at the end of this week ( OK, it > was determined for me. I didn't really want to) I began the patching > task Friday Evening, having first practiced it on a test server. > > There are three Oracle Homes on this Win23k Server, and three > Oracle databases. > > Let's call them dev, qa and prd for simplicity. > > Applying the patch on dev and qa went fairly smoothly. > > ... -- Jared Still Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l