Thank you all for suggestions.
I've just disabled hot_standby and restarted server. Everything is OK now.
I assume there was continuous recovery mode.
You cannot modify the database, right?
No, I can. As long it was in this recovery mode with hot_standby=on I was able query and modify database, with hot_standby=off I couldn't even connect.
Here is another my wonder: relying on manual, it had to be read-only mode.
And "SELECT pg_is_in_recovery();" returns TRUE, right?
I don't know :( Can't check it anymore. May be.
That is the question: If I can't connect with "FATAL: the database system is starting up" how I can check pg_is_in_recovery()?
What else I could check to ensure that postgres recovering databases and I just have to wait?
I was strongly confused by NO CPU and HDD activity during my wait.
So my conclusion is:
If postgres says "FATAL: the database system is starting up" after failure without any other errors in logs and postgres output, than you can:
- wait for some long period of time
or
- you can turn on hot_standby and use your database with care while it's recovering and turn hot_standby off when it finishes.
Hoping this thread helps someone sometime.