> 1) Oracle.exe was running
it is not enough on windows, you must also start the oracleMySID service
to have the db up and running + the listener if you plan remote
connections (usually ...)

> 2) No problems in the alert.log of the database
does it tells "instance started" at the end ?

Any ideas?
can you connect via a command line window with
sqlplus "sys as sysdba"
?

good luck,
Patrice Castet
Sr Oracle DBA