It sounds like you are also declaring a data source in a *-ds.xml file. Try this. Bring up JBoss AS without anything deployed. Once it is running (wait for the "started in xxx seconds" message), deploy the *-ds.xml file. If that is nor successful, post the console log entries after "started in" entry. If that is successful, deploy your EAR files one at a time, each time waiting for the deployment to complete. The first exception stack trace you hit, post the console log entries that correspond to the deployment of that EAR file, including the stack trace. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4197700#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...