Morning Bob, >> However, I cannot restart it. No amount of effort can get it >> to restart. I get TNS-12560 and TNS-00530 errors about protocol. >> So, the question is, what am I missing. you could be hitting a bug that has been seen in 9i listeners. If the file listener.ora has a '(' in the very first column, you get the protocol error and can't start the listener even though you can stop it happily. It's supposedly fixed in 10g though - which is puzzling as your post did indicate that you were running on 10g. Still, check the listener.ora file, just in case. Sounds like a silly problem, but I affected some listeners I have here. Especially irritating is the fact that if you use the Oracle supplied tools to create or update a listener.ora file, then you are guaranteed to get '(' in column one! Cheers, Norman. Norman Dunbar Contract Senior Oracle DBA Capgemini Database Team (EA) Internal : 7 28 2051 External : 0113 231 2051 Information in this message may be confidential and may be legally privileged. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. We have checked this email and its attachments for viruses. But you should still check any attachment before opening it. We may have to make this message and any reply to it public if asked to under the Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection Act or for litigation. Email messages and attachments sent to or from any Environment Agency address may also be accessed by someone other than the sender or recipient, for business purposes. If we have sent you information and you wish to use it please read our terms and conditions which you can get by calling us on 08708 506 506. Find out more about the Environment Agency at www.environment-agency.gov.uk Information in this message may be confidential and may be legally privileged. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. We have checked this email and its attachments for viruses. But you should still check any attachment before opening it. We may have to make this message and any reply to it public if asked to under the Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection Act or for litigation. Email messages and attachments sent to or from any Environment Agency address may also be accessed by someone other than the sender or recipient, for business purposes. If we have sent you information and you wish to use it please read our terms and conditions which you can get by calling us on 08708 506 506. Find out more about the Environment Agency at www.environment-agency.gov.uk -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l