Error starting Looker. See log file for details.

Knowledge Drop

Last tested: Nov 17, 2017
 

Chat tip: In general, try stopping looker then check if the java process is running. If it is, kill it and try again.

Search the log file for ERROR. Below are some errors and the ways to fix them (at the time of this writing there is just one that I know of)

Error starting Looker: Java::JavaSql::SQLException: Database lock acquisition failure: lockFile: org.hsqldb.persist.LockFile@14e27af2[file =/Users/user/looker/.db/looker.lck, exists=true, locked=false, valid=false, ] method: checkHeartbeat read: 2017-11-17 20:15:56 heartbeat - read: -2460 ms.

This usually means that Looker was shut down improperly. When I encountered this, I had previously shut down my computer without stopping Looker. This created a looker.lck file that prevented looker from starting.

Steps to resolve (assumes you are in the looker directory):

  • run ./looker stop
  • run ps aux | grep java to see if Looker is still running
    • if Looker is running, run pkill -9 java
  • delete the lock file: rm .db/looker.lck
  • start Looker: ./looker start

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Comments
chris_909
New Member

Thanks for your post, very helpful!

I had similar issue, but not able to kill the java, even using sudo command (also tried to restart VM). any suggestions?

cfd99481-e17e-4e35-b5aa-cb7f05658b6b.png
Morgan1
Staff

Hey Chris! I’m not sure, but you can reach out to our support team to see if they have any suggestions. Bonus points for posting back here with the answer!

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‎05-07-2021 09:48 AM
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