ORA-00600

The majority of Oracle errors are solvable from the comfort of your own desk, using just some basic knowledge of the system and having access to the Internet. That’s some of the brilliance of Oracle. Still, there remains a short list of errors that you cannot solve on your own. These are errors that even the Internet cannot do much to help you with. The ORA-00600 message is one of them, and requires you to be proactive and outside help to successfully (and quickly) manage the error.

Cause

There are a number of potential causes for this error. In its essence, an ORA-00600 is an internal coding error. Most of the information regarding the resolution of this error is in the hands of Oracle Corporation, making the list of causes a bit extensive. Perhaps the most dangerous is a corruption in the system, whether it be file corruptions or otherwise. The source could also be a network time out, incorrectly stored files or failed data checks.

Solution

Unfortunately, there is very little that can be done from your end to solve an ORA-00600 error. Due to the rare nature of this error and the serious damage that can be caused to your system should you attempt to resolve it wrongly, you won’t find help text online for fixing the error independently. It is recommended that should the error be triggered, you should contact Oracle Support immediately.

So if solving the error is out of your hands, why bother reading further? Well, there is a great deal of specific information that can be gathered prior to calling Oracle technical support that will expedite the process of solving tremendously. First, a little background is necessary. Figure out the conditions of your network system before the error occurred, what events or odd errors were triggered just prior to the ORA-00600, and which operations did you attempt to execute leading up to the error.

You should also have prepared the contents of the trace files attached to the error, statistics on the involved database tables, and the portions of the Alert file that pertain to the event. This information will drastically decrease the amount of time you need to spend with Oracle technical support.

Looking forward

There are a few additional measures that can be taken to allow for a quick response to an ORA-00600. Because the error may or may not be displayed on the screen, regularly checking database alert files and trace files can help you gather information on it. Also, being familiar with your version of Oracle is helpful so that tech support can know which set of arguments correspond to your edition (the arguments following the initial error message). This can give you a better idea of what is going on. For more information on resolving this error, contacting your licensed Oracle consultant can be the vital next step you need to take.