Trouble Starting Database

Question

I have Oracle 10.2 installed on Mac OS X 10.5. The database was working at one point (I didn't use it much) but now I'm having trouble starting it.
First I log in as the Oracle user:
su - oracle
Then I start the listener and it appears to start up correctly:
localhost:~ oracle$ lsnrctl start
LSNRCTL for MacOS X Server: Version 10.2.0.4.0 - Production on 24-SEP-2009 11:17:01
Copyright (c) 1991, 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Starting /Users/oracle/oracle/product/10.2.0_db_1/bin/tnslsnr: please wait...
TNSLSNR for MacOS X Server: Version 10.2.0.4.0 - Production
System parameter file is /Users/oracle/oracle/product/10.2.0_db_1/network/admin/listener.ora
Log messages written to /Users/oracle/oracle/product/10.2.0_db_1/network/log/listener.log
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=EXTPROC1)))
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=127.0.0.1)(PORT=1521)))
Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=IPC)(KEY=EXTPROC1)))
STATUS of the LISTENER
Alias LISTENER
Version TNSLSNR for MacOS X Server: Version 10.2.0.4.0 - Production
Start Date 24-SEP-2009 11:17:01
Uptime 0 days 0 hr. 0 min. 0 sec
Trace Level off
Security ON: Local OS Authentication
SNMP OFF
Listener Parameter File /Users/oracle/oracle/product/10.2.0_db_1/network/admin/listener.ora
Listener Log File /Users/oracle/oracle/product/10.2.0_db_1/network/log/listener.log
Listening Endpoints Summary...
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=EXTPROC1)))
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=127.0.0.1)(PORT=1521)))
Services Summary...
Service "PLSExtProc" has 1 instance(s).
Instance "PLSExtProc", status UNKNOWN, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
The command completed successfully
Then I log into SQL Plus and try to start the database and it fails with the message shown:
localhost:~ oracle$ sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 - Production on Thu Sep 24 11:17:15 2009
Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.
Connected to an idle instance.
SQL> startup
ORA-01078: failure in processing system parameters
LRM-00109: could not open parameter file '/Users/oracle/oracle/product/10.2.0_db_1/dbs/initXE.ora'
The SID of my database is ORCL, not XE. I'm not sure where the XE in "initXE.ora" comes from, and I'm not sure if that's part of the problem. When I look in the /Users/oracle/oracle/product/10.2.0_db_1/dbs/ directory this is what is there:
localhost:~ oracle$ cd /Users/oracle/oracle/product/10.2.0_db_1/dbs/
localhost:dbs oracle$ ls
alert_ORCL.log     init.ora     lkORCL          spfileorcl.ora
hc_orcl.dat     initdw.ora     orapworcl     sqlnet.log
localhost:dbs oracle$
So apparently there is no initXE.ora file.
h1. My Question:
Why is it looking for initXE.ora, and how can I fix it? Like I said I had this database working before (SID or ORCL) so I don't know what changed.
h3. Thank you!!!!!

Answer 1

Follow these steps:
startup pfile='<pfile location of initORCL.ora>';
then logging as SYSDBA
create spfile from pfile;
Check the spfile in $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/ directory.
then shutdown the database and startup the database.
Don't forget to export the ORACLE_HOME,ORACLE_SID,PATH environment variables.
Regards
Asif Kabir