HELP! -529 Cannot attach to shared memory error

i am running online 5.0 and sql 4.00 on an altos/sco unix based system. several months ago, the primary hard drive crashed and was replaced by another company. the person who performed the reinstallation of the online and sql packages and the databses involved could not get any user but the root user to have access to the sql forms and reports. the management found this to be an acceptable solution, so they ran with it. now, i'm trying to alter some tables in a database whose administrator is the "informix" user. alter rights were given only to the "informix" user, but when i try to fire up isql or use other commands from the command line, i get the following error: -529 cannot attach to shared memory i need to be able to alter these tables soon, but i didn't perform either the initial installation or reinstallation. i'm not very familiar with the details of this installation, but i don't believe that this has to do with file permissions. Any help on this would be GREATLY APPRECIATED. Please reply to this newsgroup or send e-mail directly to me at: demtron@execpc.com Thanks in advance. John Demar DemTron, Inc Milwaukee, WI