Problem with Informix. Assistance appreciated.

[Heng, Kok-Hong]

Hi there, could some expert assist me in solving the following problem I'm facing?

--------------------------------------------
unix:/opt/informix>onspaces -d mpe_dbs
WARNING: Dropping a DBspace.
Do you really want to continue? (y/n)y
WARNING! The dbspace you wish to drop has been disabled. There
may be database catalog entries for tables or indices which contain
data in this dbspace. If you complete the drop they will be unusable.
Do you really want to continue? (y/n)y
Cannot drop the Space.
ISAM error: Unexpected internal error
unix:/opt/informix>
----------------------------------------------

Many thanks in advance.

Kok Hong

[Zafar A. Mohammed_1]

Before deleting the dbspace, delete all the tables from that dbspace.
1. Delete all the tables from that dbspace
2. Drop the dbspace
3. Take the backup(fake backup)


Thanks
Zafar

[Heng, Kok-Hong]

zafar,
we accidentally overwrote one of the chunk. we can't go into the the database to delete the table anymore. whenever tried to open the database, the following error appear
" 311: Cannot open system catalog (systables).
172: ISAM error: Unexpected internal error ".

is there any other method to force informix server to drop the dbspaces? Thanks in advanced for your help.

[Zafar A. Mohammed_1]

You can still delete all the information from sysmaster database tables, but first check with Informix Tech Support. If this is a development box, then I directly delete all the table information from sysmaster.

Thanks
Zafar

[Heng, Kok-Hong]

how to delete from sysdatabases table? i hit the following error when issued SQL
"delete from sysdatabases
where name='test'"
"
240: Could not delete a row.
158: ISAM error: Operation disallowed on SMI pseudo table ".

It means that if I can delete all the database objects that previous in the disable chunk, I will be able to drop the dbspaces. Thanks.

[Zafar A. Mohammed_1]

Check the reserved pages
oncheck -cr and
oncheck -cR

and if you are able to delete the particular chunk than everything is gone and make sure you take the backup(fake backup).

Thanks
Zafar

[Rainer von Bongartz]

1) Stop your INFORMIX Server (onmode -ky)

2) set the (undocumented but widely known) environment variable ARCHIVE_TEST=1

3) oninit

4) drop yout db-space

Regards
Rainer

[JJ_4]

What version of Informix?

Do you have a backup?