PG not starting

[WillySutton]

I recently changed from Zone Alarm Suite to their "Extreme" suite. Since then PT3 hasn't been able to connect to the database. I ran into this problem years ago with PT2 but darned if I can remember the solution. Can you give me a hand here?
Here is some log information that might help. I have deleted duplicate entries in the log file but made notes of what I deleted for the sake of space on the forum.

log file starts:

2009-05-11 08:52:57 PDT LOG: database system was shut down at 2009-05-11 00:27:27 PDT
2009-05-11 08:52:57 PDT LOG: loaded library "$libdir/plugins/plugin_debugger.dll"
2009-05-11 08:52:57 PDT FATAL: the database system is starting up
2009-05-11 08:52:58 PDT LOG: database system is ready to accept connections
2009-05-11 08:52:58 PDT LOG: autovacuum launcher started
2009-05-11 08:52:59 PDT LOG: loaded library "$libdir/plugins/plugin_debugger.dll"
FATAL: could not reattach to shared memory (key=1804, addr=016E0000): 487
2009-05-11 08:55:18 PDT WARNING: worker took too long to start; cancelled

repeated 10 more times

attempted to start PT3

FATAL: could not reattach to shared memory (key=1804, addr=016E0000): 487
2009-05-11 08:55:18 PDT WARNING: worker took too long to start; cancelled

(repeated 23 more times)

2009-05-11 09:07:18 PDT WARNING: worker took too long to start; cancelled
FATAL: could not reattach to shared memory (key=1804, addr=016E0000): 487

(repeated 23 more times)

2009-05-11 09:08:18 PDT WARNING: worker took too long to start; cancelled
FATAL: could not reattach to shared memory (key=1804, addr=016E0000): 487

PT3 cannot attach so...
At this point I "stopped service", "reloaded config" and "started service". (from experience I've found that just stopping and restarting doesn't work.)

2009-05-11 09:08:20 PDT LOG: received fast shutdown request
2009-05-11 09:08:20 PDT LOG: aborting any active transactions
2009-05-11 09:08:20 PDT LOG: autovacuum launcher shutting down
2009-05-11 09:08:20 PDT LOG: shutting down
2009-05-11 09:08:20 PDT LOG: database system is shut down

Next is log of restart after PT3 is running. PT3 attaches and runs OK.

2009-05-11 09:08:32 PDT LOG: database system was shut down at 2009-05-11 09:08:20 PDT
2009-05-11 09:08:32 PDT LOG: loaded library "$libdir/plugins/plugin_debugger.dll"
2009-05-11 09:08:32 PDT FATAL: the database system is starting up
2009-05-11 09:08:33 PDT LOG: database system is ready to accept connections
2009-05-11 09:08:33 PDT LOG: autovacuum launcher started
2009-05-11 09:08:33 PDT LOG: loaded library "$libdir/plugins/plugin_debugger.dll"
2009-05-11 09:09:27 PDT LOG: loaded library "$libdir/plugins/plugin_debugger.dll"
2009-05-11 09:09:37 PDT LOG: loaded library "$libdir/plugins/plugin_debugger.dll"

end of log file

It would appear,to me anyway, that the cause of the failure to restart is caused by the debugger? This could possibly be because of the new Firewall/Virus/Spyware. If so, do I have to find this DLL and give it permission to run?

[kraada]

It certainly could be a result of your firewall change. Try adding in an exception for C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.3\bin\pg_ctl.exe and postgres.exe (same path) and see if that helps.

[WillySutton]

It certainly could be a result of your firewall change. Try adding in an exception for C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.3\bin\pg_ctl.exe and postgres.exe (same path) and see if that helps.

Both have "Super Trusted" status ... that was my first try

[WhiteRider]

Try uninstalling it temporarily - we've seen some reports of security software which prevents postgres starting when it is installed at all, despite being told to allow postgres to run.

[WillySutton]

I studied the PG logs during boot time and noticed that PG did start and was running when PT3 barfed. Stopping PG, reloading the config file and then starting the service again while PT3 was running, but unable to connect, resulted in PT3 being able to connect after hitting refresh. I guess PT3 does not try to restart PG when it does a simple refresh. So ... I turned on logging in PT3 and studied THAT log. (probably violated some sort of rule but, what the hell) I noticed that PT3 trys to start PG when PT3 is started. I immediatly went to Windows services configuration, didn't pass go, didn't collect $200, and told PG to LOAD MANUALLY (it was on AUTOMATIC). I restarted Windows, checked to see that PG was NOT running (it wasn't). I started and ran PT3 with no problems.

Now ... The only recent change to my PT3 was the addition of a second database. The only change to my system was the change over from Zone Alarm Security Suite to Zone Alarm Extreme Security.

Could the newer security make PG or PT3 act differently?

Is a puzzlement, eh? ;)

EDIT: I think you can toss most of the above reasoning afterall. PT3 trys to start PG everytime PT3 starts. After the initial use of PT3 it will function properly even though it trys to start PG while PG is already running. Maybe PG loads some improper start up data when it starts automatically at boot time. My brain hurts. I left the top part of this post to maybe help you guys out and keep you from going down the same path as I.

Thanks for your time anyway guys. Much appreciated.

[kraada]

Zone Alarm Extreme could be causing the problem; try making sure that C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.3\bin\pg_ctl.exe, C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.3\bin\postgres.exe, and C:\Program Files\PokerTracker 3\PokerTracker.exe all have built in exceptions to your firewall and are allowed full access and see if that helps.

[WillySutton]

Zone Alarm Extreme could be causing the problem; try making sure that C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.3\bin\pg_ctl.exe, C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.3\bin\postgres.exe, and C:\Program Files\PokerTracker 3\PokerTracker.exe all have built in exceptions to your firewall and are allowed full access and see if that helps.

By "built in exceptions" you mean the trust level, right? All of them are set to "Super" trust level. PokerTracker has access to the internet, PostgreSQL does not. I gave PG internet access to the internet in previous trys, it made no difference. For what it's worth, I have given all of these programs full access to everything except email privleges while trying to find the problem.

[kraada]

I should've probably mentioned earlier the reason that PT3 attempts to start PostgreSQL is to fix problems for a lot of people who didn't have PostgreSQL running; PT3 should check and if PostgreSQL is running it won't do anything, but if it isn't, it will start it up.

I haven't personally used Zone Alarm Extreme so I'm not up to date on their terminological issues. Essentially, you really want to let PT3 and PostgreSQL do what they are attempting to do. PostgreSQL's default configuration won't let anybody from the internet connect to it (you'd have to make manual configuration file changes to allow that). Different antiviruses do things differently but if you try with Zone Alarm Extreme disabled and everything works right, your problem is certainly with ZAE.

[WillySutton]

OK ...

The only way I could make sure ZAE didn't start anything at boot was to uninstall it. PT3 and PG both worked fine with no ZAE so that is the problem. I could probably spend another week or so trying to figure out why that happens but as long as I have the work-around, I'm a happy camper. I would have tried this earlier but I have a phobia about being unprotected so I just pulled the net cable during all of this. Maybe in the next update of ZAE it will change. They have a history of "fixing" things in updates that are never mentioned.

Thanks for all your help. :D

[kraada]

Thanks for the update. You should still e-mail their support system and let them know of the problem. PostgreSQL isn't often used by the average user, so they might not be aware (and even if they are aware, it can't hurt).