Issue: Unable to connect to the Oracle database when starting FTK

Symptom: You get the error "Unable to connect to database requested", "Could not access Oracle database", or a similar error message when starting FTK using the Oracle database.

Cause: The causes can vary, so this will walk you through the usual troubleshooting process for Oracle connection issues.

Possible Solutions:
(These steps aren't in any particular order, but are basic things to check)

  • Make sure the database drive isn't write-protected.  If it is, unblock it and reboot.

Check the listener status:

  • Open a Command Prompt (as Administrator).
  • Run the command "lsnrctl".
  • If it says "lsnrctl" is not a recognized command, skip down to "Check the Oracle services".
  • If the listener says it can't find the HOST, this means the PC has been renamed.  Please refer to the steps here.
  • At the LSNRCTL> prompt, run the command "status".
  • If it says "TNS:no listener", you'll need to rebuild the listener.
  • Look for the Service Summary at the bottom of the output.  You want to see the following:

Service "PLSExtProc" has 1 instance(s).
  Instance "PLSExtProc", status UNKNOWN, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
Service "ftk2" has 1 instance(s).
  Instance "ftk2", status READY, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
Service "ftk2XDB" has 1 instance(s).
  Instance "ftk2", status READY, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
Service "ftk2_XPT" has 1 instance(s).
  Instance "ftk2", status READY, has 1 handler(s) for this service...

  • If some of the services aren't listed, run the command "stop", wait a few minutes, run the command "start", then wait a few minutes and check the status again.  If they still aren't listed, please refer to the steps here.
  • If "ftk2XDB" isn't listed, this means the database is likely corrupt.  Please refer to the steps here.
  • If any of the services say BLOCKED, you'll need to log in directly to Oracle (sqlplus) and try to manually "shutdown" and "startup" Oracle.
  • If the "startup" command in Oracle (sqlplus) reports there are issues with the Control Files, you may need to replace or recover the bad Control Files.

Check the Oracle services:

  • Open the Services snap-in (services.msc).  You want to see the following services as "started":

OracleAccessDataDBTNSListener
OracleJobSchedulerFTK2
OracleServiceFTK2

  • If any of the services aren't started, double-click on them, make sure the "Startup type" is set to Automatic, then click "Start".
  • If any of the services won't start, do the following for each of the services:
  1. Double-click the service to open the service properties
  2. Check the "Path the executable" and ensure the path exists.  If the path doesn't exist, the Oracle drive letter may have changed.  Use Disk Management to change the Oracle drive letter to reflect the one noted in the services, then reboot the PC.
  3. Make sure the "Startup type" is set to Automatic
  4. Under the "Log On" tab, make sure it's either set to run under the Local System account (for one-box setups) or another account with Administrator rights (for multi-box setups or DPE)
  5. Start the service

If all the services are fine but FTK still won't connect, check the listener.ora file (with the steps here).  If the HOST is set as the machine's name, try setting it to the machine's IP.  Similarly, if it is already set to the machine's IP, try setting it to the machine's name.