Oracle 11g ORA-00205: error in identifying control file, check alert log for more info

Question

I've been having this problem for more than 4 days, I've tried to fix it but it persists!

The content of the log file $ORACLE_HOME/log/diag/rdbms/<sid>/<SID>/trace/alert_SID.log is:

SQL > ALTER DATABASE MOUNT;

ORA-00210: cannot open the specified control file
ORA-00202: control file: '/intradayv3/position/control1/POSCTL1.ctl'
ORA-27037: unable to obtain file status
IBM AIX RISC System/6000 Error: 2: No such file or directory
Additional information: 3
ORA-205 signalled during: ALTER DATABASE MOUNT...
Fri Apr 03 12:24:44 2015
Checker run found 1 new persistent data failures

Answer 1

check init.ora file(spfile.ora) and check ALL controlfiles listed here. There should be at least three of them. Then exclude the missiin one form the list and try to start the database. You should also check sizes and dates of all control files.

Your goal is to find at least one usable copy of controlfile to start the database.

create pfile='/tmp/init.ora' from spfile;

then edit this init.ora file.

 startup database pfile='/tmp/init.ora' nomount;
 alter database mount;
 alter database open;

You have to sync init.ora with valid controlfiles you have on the disk. Check their permissions, sizes, modification dates.