[Serusers] ser dead but subsys locked, no config works?

I was editing my working 0.8.14 system today, and obviously have a bad config file. in the course of fixing the numerous problems, I came across this error when trying to start ser: root @ sip> /etc/rc.d/init.d/ser start starting ser.. [ok] root @ sip> /etc/rc.d/init.d/ser status ser dead but subsys locked root @ sip> rm -f /var/run/ser.pid root @ sip> rm -f /var/lock/subsys/ser root @ sip> rm -f /tmp/ser_fifo root @ sip> /etc/rc.d/init.d/ser status ser not running root @ sip> ser Listening on x.x.x.243 [x.x.x.243]:5060 127.0.0.1 [127.0.0.1]:5060 Aliases: localhost:5060 localhost.localdomain:5060 snort:5060 snort.mydomain.com:5060 127.0.0.1:* x.x.x.243:* sip.mydomain.com:* mydomain.com:* root @ sip> serctl ps <hang here> ctrl-C [root@sip root]# ps -aux | grep "\bser" root 6556 0.0 0.6 37808 3184 ? S 18:05 0:00 ser root 6560 0.0 0.6 37808 3184 ? S 18:05 0:00 ser root 6563 0.0 0.6 37808 3184 ? S 18:05 0:00 ser root 6567 0.0 0.6 37808 3184 ? S 18:05 0:00 ser root 6570 0.0 0.6 37808 3184 ? S 18:05 0:00 ser root 6571 0.0 0.6 37808 3184 ? S 18:05 0:00 ser root 6572 0.0 0.6 37808 3184 ? S 18:05 0:00 ser root 6577 0.0 0.6 37808 3184 ? S 18:05 0:00 ser root 6578 0.0 0.6 37808 3184 ? S 18:05 0:00 ser root 6579 0.0 0.6 37808 3184 ? S 18:05 0:00 ser root 6580 0.0 0.6 37808 3184 ? S 18:05 0:00 ser root 6585 0.0 0.6 37808 3200 ? S 18:05 0:00 ser [root@sip root]# serctl moni [cycle #: 1; if constant make sure server lives and fifo is on] [root@sip root]# ser -E -ddddddd -D [root@sip root]# ser -E -D -ddddddddddd 0(6654) read 639376042 from /dev/random 0(6654) seeding PRNG with 1736314101 0(6654) test random number 377719587 0(6654) shm_mem_init: success 0(6654) DEBUG: register_fifo_cmd: new command (print) registered 0(6654) DEBUG: register_fifo_cmd: new command (uptime) registered 0(6654) DEBUG: register_fifo_cmd: new command (version) registered 0(6654) DEBUG: register_fifo_cmd: new command (pwd) registered 0(6654) DEBUG: register_fifo_cmd: new command (arg) registered 0(6654) DEBUG: register_fifo_cmd: new command (which) registered 0(6654) DEBUG: register_fifo_cmd: new command (ps) registered 0(6654) DEBUG: register_fifo_cmd: new command (kill) registered Listening on x.x.x.243 [x.x.x.243]:5060 192.168.5.179 [192.168.5.179]:5060 127.0.0.1 [127.0.0.1]:5060 Aliases: localhost:5060 localhost.localdomain:5060 snort:5060 snort.mydomain.com:5060 127.0.0.1:* x.x.x.243:* sip.mydomain.com:* mydomain.com:* [root@sip root]# serctl shows the same thing. This is even with my previously working config file, AND after re-running the "make all" and "make install" on 0.8.14_src.tar.gz ser.cfg attached as example.exe I'm starting ser with only the pid file option (-p I think). a while back I chown'd and chgroup'd the ser folders to a user and group called "ser", but haven't added the -u and -g options to my startup, cause I can't figure out how to get it to work properly that way. Yes, I'm a linux n00b, and have been reading serusers for a few weeks - 90% of my questions so far have been answered through there - I just can't find any answers to this other than one guy in May who just reinstalled, and that solved it. Thanks! Rob