[root@mbl-82-52-252 OpenNMS]# su postgres bash-3.1$ pg_ctl -D /var/lib/pgsql/data/ start pg_ctl: another postmaster may be running; trying to start postmaster anyway FATAL: pre-existing shared memory block (key 5432001, ID 2031633) is still in use HINT: If you're sure there are no old server processes still running, remove the shared memory block with the command "ipcclean", "ipcrm", or just delete the file "postmaster.pid". pg_ctl: could not start postmaster Examine the log output. bash-3.1$ ipcclean Shared memory 4259854 ... skipped; process still exists (pid 4110 or 17307). Shared memory 4358159 ... skipped; process still exists (pid 4110 or 17307). Shared memory 4423696 ... skipped; process still exists (pid 4110 or 17307). ipcclean: nothing removed