Oracle OCI and characterset issue

Hi there, I hope that one or another Oracle specialist is on our list, so here's something special for you: I recently upgraded from Zend Core for Oracle 2.0 to 2.5 (I still use the same php.ini I used with 2.0), and now my database language setup is messed up! All german umlauts are gone and I haven't found a way to get them back. This is my setup and database connection handling: 1.) I set up the system-wide environment variable: "NLS_LANG=GERMAN_GERMANY.WE8ISO8859P9" 2.) Additionally, I set up the environment variable within my php script: putenv("NLS_LANG=GERMAN_GERMANY.WE8ISO8859P9"); 3.) Right before executing: $this->dbh = oci_pconnect($dbUser, $dbPass, "//$dbHost:$dbPort/$dbName", "NLS_LANG=GERMAN_GERMANY.WE8ISO8859P9"); Worked before, but now querying Oracle session language setup ("SELECT * FROM NLS_SESSION_PARAMETERS") returns this: -------------------------- NLS_LANGUAGE AMERICAN NLS_TERRITORY AMERICA NLS_CURRENCY $ NLS_ISO_CURRENCY AMERICA NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS ., NLS_CALENDAR GREGORIAN NLS_DATE_FORMAT DD-MON-RR NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE AMERICAN NLS_SORT BINARY NLS_TIME_FORMAT HH.MI.SSXFF AM NLS_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS NLS_TIME_TZ_FORMAT HH.MI.SSXFF AM TZR NLS_TIMESTAMP_TZ_FORMAT DD-MON-RR HH.MI.SSXFF AM TZR NLS_DUAL_CURRENCY $ NLS_COMP BINARY NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS BYTE NLS_NCHAR_CONV_EXCP FALSE -------------------------- Any ideas and help greatly appreciated!! Thanks a lot! Regards, Sascha -- Neu: GMX FreeDSL Komplettanschluss mit DSL 6.000 Flatrate + Telefonanschluss für nur 17,95 Euro/mtl.!* http://dslspecial.gmx.de/freedsl-surfflat/?ac=OM.AD.PD003K11308T4569a