Does this still happen if you set in the spfile and then restart the database? -----Original Message----- Greg Norris I've got kind of a weird issue with a 9.2.0.5 (64-bit) database on HP-UX. Basically, it seems to be forgetting the "user_dump_dest" setting for some reason... it's putting trace files under $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/log even though the parameter is properly set, and "show parameter user_dump_dest" indicates the expected location. -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l