Service remains in "offline*" state - how to reset it?

Question

Hello.
Since two days ago, I've got a problem with one of the sevices on a S10 Sparc system.
--($:~)-- svcs -a | grep \*
offline*       Jan_08   svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
--($:~)-- svcs -xv svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002 (Oracle database)
State: offline since  8. Januar 2008 03:43:55 CET
Reason: Start method is running.
   See: http://sun.com/msg/SMF-8000-C4
   See: man -M /usr/share/man -s 5 ora-smf
   See: /var/svc/log/application-oracle-database:RACE002.log
Impact: This service is not running.
--($:~)-- tail /var/svc/log/application-oracle-database:RACE002.log
database RACE002 is OPEN.
[ Jan  7 03:41:45 Method "start" exited with status 0 ]
[ Jan  8 03:42:52 Stopping because service disabled. ]
[ Jan  8 03:42:52 Executing stop method ("/lib/svc/method/ora-smf stop database RACE002") ]
Database closed.
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.
[ Jan  8 03:43:00 Method "stop" exited with status 0 ]
[ Jan  8 03:43:54 Enabled. ]
[ Jan  8 03:43:55 Executing start method ("/lib/svc/method/ora-smf start database RACE002") ]Ie., the service is in "offline*" since Jan 8.
How do I get the service to change into any other different state, be it "online", "maintenance" or "offline"?
--($:~)-- svcs -xv svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002 (Oracle database)
State: offline since  8. Januar 2008 03:43:55 CET
Reason: Start method is running.
   See: http://sun.com/msg/SMF-8000-C4
   See: man -M /usr/share/man -s 5 ora-smf
   See: /var/svc/log/application-oracle-database:RACE002.log
Impact: This service is not running.
--($:~)-- sudo svcadm disable svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
--($:~)-- svcs -xv svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002 (Oracle database)
State: offline since  8. Januar 2008 03:43:55 CET
Reason: Start method is running.
   See: http://sun.com/msg/SMF-8000-C4
   See: man -M /usr/share/man -s 5 ora-smf
   See: /var/svc/log/application-oracle-database:RACE002.log
Impact: This service is not running.
--($:~)-- svcs svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
STATE          STIME    FMRI
offline*       Jan_08   svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
--($:~)-- sudo svcadm mark maintenance svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
--($:~)-- svcs svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
STATE          STIME    FMRI
offline*       Jan_08   svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
--($:~)-- sudo svcadm clear svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
svcadm: Instance "svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002" is not in a maintenance or degraded state.
--($:~)-- sudo svcadm refresh svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
--($:~)-- svcs svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
STATE          STIME    FMRI
offline*       Jan_08   svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
--($:~)-- sudo svcadm restart svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
--($:~)-- svcs svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002
STATE          STIME    FMRI
offline*       Jan_08   svc:/application/oracle/database:RACE002 Note: I'm not looking for an answer on how to make the oracle database RACE002 be available again. That can easily be done as "oracle" OS user and using "sqlplus" to send a "startup" command.
I'm looking for a way to make SMF behave again. Because right now, I cannot use SMF to change the state of the service, which is a problem, as my backup scripts fail because of that :/
Thanks a lot,
Michael

Answer 1

Hello again Michael, would you be able to post the output of the following procedure?
4:41pm cmdrkeen@crossfire  /research #>svccfg
svc:> select network/ssh
svc:/network/ssh> listprop(except obviously with your service rather than SSH)