SQL & PL/SQL :: ORA-01994 - GRANT Failed / Password File Missing Or Disabled

When I create the orapwd file the sys user is not in the file,The problem started when I tried to grant sysdba privileges to sys

[oracle@bg2mo08i3 dbs]$ sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 11.1.0.6.0 - Production on Thu Apr 5 18:47:06 2012

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to:
Oracle Database 11g Release 11.1.0.6.0 - 64bit Production

SQL> grant sysdba to sys;
grant sysdba to sys
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01994: GRANT failed: password file missing or disabled

SQL> shutdown immediate;

From the postings I read I shutdown the DB and I created a new orapwd file:
$ orapwd file=$ORACLE_HOME/dbs/orapwSID password=password entries=30 force=y

SQL> startup;

Started the DB, verified that the password parameter is set to EXCLUSIVE.

SQL>show parameter password;
NAME TYPE VALUE
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
remote_login_passwordfile string EXCLUSIVE
SQL>

SQL> select * from v$pwfile_users;
no rows selected
SQL>

Shouldn't the sys user be listed in the v$pwfile_users?

[oracle@bg2mo08i3 dbs]$ ls -l ora*
-rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 1536 Apr 5 18:02 orapwSID

Are these permissions and ownership correct?

I can connect using sys's password: SQL> connect sys/sysPASSWORD as sysdba Connected