When trying to connect to an ORACLE user via TOAD (Quest Software) or any other means (Oracle Enterprise Manager) I simply get the error:
ORA-011033: ORACLE initialization or shutdown in progress
[in the spirit of StackOverflow I will answer this one myself - at least I'll relate how I resolved it in my case - please also relate your own such adventures...]
After some googling I found the advice to do the following:
> sqlplus /nolog
> SQL> connect / as sysdba
Connected.
> SQL> shutdown abort
ORACLE Instance shut down.
> SQL> startup nomount
ORACLE Instance started
> SQL> alter database mount;
> SQL> alter database open;
Which still gave the error:
ORA-00600: internal error code, arguments: [kcratr1_lostwrt]
I then found the advice to do the following:
> SQL> startup mount
ORACLE Instance started
> SQL> recover database
Media recovery complete
> SQL> alter database open
Database altered
This error can also occur in the normal situation when a database is starting or stopping. Normally on startup you can wait until the startup completes, then connect as usual. If the error persists, the service (on a Windows box) may be started without the database being started. This may be due to startup issues, or because the service is not configured to automatically start the database. In this case you will have to connect as sysdba and physically start the database using the "startup" command.
I have the same problem, i tried to do the same things as you said, but the commandsql>alter database mount; generates an error: "mountage of database in exclusive mode"; sql>alter database open; generates the error: "database not mounted". please help; kalaldi