PG::ConnectionBad - could not connect to server: Connection refused

Every time I run my rails 4.0 server, I get this output.

Started GET "/" for 127.0.0.1 at 2013-11-06 23:56:36 -0500

PG::ConnectionBad - could not connect to server: Connection refused
Is the server running on host "localhost" (::1) and accepting
TCP/IP connections on port 5432?
could not connect to server: Connection refused
Is the server running on host "localhost" (127.0.0.1) and accepting
TCP/IP connections on port 5432?
could not connect to server: Connection refused
Is the server running on host "localhost" (fe80::1) and accepting
TCP/IP connections on port 5432?
:
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:825:in `connect'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:542:in `initialize'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:41:in `postgresql_connection'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:440:in `new_connection'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:450:in `checkout_new_connection'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:421:in `acquire_connection'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:356:in `block in checkout'
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/monitor.rb:211:in `mon_synchronize'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:355:in `checkout'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:265:in `block in connection'
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/lib/ruby/2.0.0/monitor.rb:211:in `mon_synchronize'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:264:in `connection'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:546:in `retrieve_connection'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_handling.rb:79:in `retrieve_connection'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/connection_handling.rb:53:in `connection'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/migration.rb:792:in `current_version'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/migration.rb:800:in `needs_migration?'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/migration.rb:379:in `check_pending!'
activerecord (4.0.0) lib/active_record/migration.rb:366:in `call'
actionpack (4.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/callbacks.rb:29:in `block in call'
activesupport (4.0.0) lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:373:in `_run__1613334440513032208__call__callbacks'
activesupport (4.0.0) lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:80:in `run_callbacks'
actionpack (4.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/callbacks.rb:27:in `call'
actionpack (4.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/reloader.rb:64:in `call'
actionpack (4.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/remote_ip.rb:76:in `call'
better_errors (0.9.0) lib/better_errors/middleware.rb:84:in `protected_app_call'
better_errors (0.9.0) lib/better_errors/middleware.rb:79:in `better_errors_call'
better_errors (0.9.0) lib/better_errors/middleware.rb:56:in `call'
actionpack (4.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/debug_exceptions.rb:17:in `call'
actionpack (4.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/show_exceptions.rb:30:in `call'
railties (4.0.0) lib/rails/rack/logger.rb:38:in `call_app'
railties (4.0.0) lib/rails/rack/logger.rb:21:in `block in call'
activesupport (4.0.0) lib/active_support/tagged_logging.rb:67:in `block in tagged'
activesupport (4.0.0) lib/active_support/tagged_logging.rb:25:in `tagged'
activesupport (4.0.0) lib/active_support/tagged_logging.rb:67:in `tagged'
railties (4.0.0) lib/rails/rack/logger.rb:21:in `call'
quiet_assets (1.0.2) lib/quiet_assets.rb:18:in `call_with_quiet_assets'
actionpack (4.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/request_id.rb:21:in `call'
rack (1.5.2) lib/rack/methodoverride.rb:21:in `call'
rack (1.5.2) lib/rack/runtime.rb:17:in `call'
activesupport (4.0.0) lib/active_support/cache/strategy/local_cache.rb:83:in `call'
rack (1.5.2) lib/rack/lock.rb:17:in `call'
actionpack (4.0.0) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/static.rb:64:in `call'
railties (4.0.0) lib/rails/engine.rb:511:in `call'
railties (4.0.0) lib/rails/application.rb:97:in `call'
rack (1.5.2) lib/rack/content_length.rb:14:in `call'
thin (1.5.1) lib/thin/connection.rb:81:in `block in pre_process'
thin (1.5.1) lib/thin/connection.rb:79:in `pre_process'
thin (1.5.1) lib/thin/connection.rb:54:in `process'
thin (1.5.1) lib/thin/connection.rb:39:in `receive_data'
eventmachine (1.0.3) lib/eventmachine.rb:187:in `run'
thin (1.5.1) lib/thin/backends/base.rb:63:in `start'
thin (1.5.1) lib/thin/server.rb:159:in `start'
rack (1.5.2) lib/rack/handler/thin.rb:16:in `run'
rack (1.5.2) lib/rack/server.rb:264:in `start'
railties (4.0.0) lib/rails/commands/server.rb:84:in `start'
railties (4.0.0) lib/rails/commands.rb:78:in `block in <top (required)>'
railties (4.0.0) lib/rails/commands.rb:73:in `<top (required)>'
bin/rails:4:in `<main>'

I'm running Mavericks OS X 10.9 so I don't know if that's the problem. I've tried everything I could but nothing seems to work. I've uninstalled and install both postgres and the pg gem multiple times now.

This is my database.yml file

development:
adapter: postgresql
encoding: unicode
database: metals-directory_development
pool: 5
username:
password:
template: template0
host: localhost
port: 5432

test: &test
adapter: postgresql
encoding: unicode
database: metals-directory_test
pool: 5
username:
password:
template: template0
host: localhost
port: 5432

staging:
adapter: postgresql
encoding: unicode
database: metals-directory_production
pool: 5
username:
password:
template: template0
host: localhost

production:
adapter: postgresql
encoding: unicode
database: metals-directory_production
pool: 5
username:
password:
template: template0
host: localhost

cucumber:
<<: *test

I had the same problem in production (development everything worked),
in my case the DB server is **not** on the same machine as the app, so finally what worked is just to migrate by writing:

bundle exec rake db:migrate RAILS_ENV=production

and then restart the server and everything worked.

I know this is late but might help somebody.
I was having the same issue. Turns out that I'd two versions of postgres 9.1 and 9.5. I uninstalled 9.1 and 9.5 and installed 9.5 again and it worked for me.

Locate your postgres file it could be in `/usr/local/var/postgres/` or in `/usr/var/postgres/` and then delete the `postmaster.pid` file present in that folder.

I stopped the rails server, ran `rake db:migrate` and started my `rails s`.

I ran into this error after following a `brew upgrade` in which postgresql was updated. I found exactly how to fix my problem from this great post. I was able to get postgres back up and running and even migrated over all my existing databases.

[To see links please register here]

I just had this problem and none of the suggested solutions worked for me. After a lot of googling, I did find a solution. This is what worked for me.

First, I had to run this command to start the server and I am guessing set the location of config file.

pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres start && brew services start postgresql

Then I ran this command to access postgres

psql postgres

And at the postgres prompt then I typed "\du" to list the roles

postgres=# \du

The postgres role was missing so I had to create it with this command

CREATE ROLE POSTGRES WITH SUPERUSER CREATEDB CREATEUSER CREATEROLE REPLICATION BYPASSRLS ;

That solved my problem and I hope this helps someone else.

I had the same problem. I Check the last line of `PostgreSQL` log files in `/var/log/postgresql`.
There was an unrecognized configuration parameter in file **/etc/postgresql/9.5/main/postgresql.conf**. Commenting the error line in `postgresql.conf` resolved my problem.

My problem was in my **application.yml** file. My database `url` on `heroku` was not using port 5342. Check your `heroku` config `var DATABASE_URL`. Make sure that matches exactly with was in your **application.yml** for the applicable database.

I had the same problem, this explanation solved it for me:

[To see links please register here]

key step was looking at the tail of my **/usr/local/var/postgres/server.log** ,
that let me see what the real problem was, which was that i hadn't fully completed the process of upgrading PostgreSQL