Sorry to reply to myself but here's a bit more info. That strace shows a crash. The node that was denying logins is now complaining about checkpoint file 000...000. It appears to be the case that a few attempts to start converts a db that rejects logins to one that crashes on startup. (When I first started examining the damage, I was able to start all four dbs but not login.) Morris ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 9: In versions below 8.0, the planner will ignore your desire to choose an index scan if your joining column's datatypes do not match