Hmm, I'm really curious why maximus won't start up for you..
 
Try this:
 
# cd /var/max
# strace -f bin/max etc/max -k 2>&1 | egrep 'open|max' > /tmp/q
 
You might need to break out of that (or kill the task) if max actually does
start up; otherwise, you should be able to look in /tmp/q and get a clue --
i.e.
 
10231: open("/var/max/etc/max.prm", 24, 0666) = ENOENT
 
That line means pid 10231 tried to open /var/max/etc/max.prm, and got
"file not found". 
 
Post back clues if you can't interpret them. More interpretation is
probably available in /usr/include/errno.h or /usr/include/sys/errno.h.
 
Wes

--- Maximus/2 3.01