SBS2003 Windows Update will not run - No software will install

From: EricS (anonymous_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 06/09/04 

Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2004 11:41:20 -0700

About 2-months ago, right after running the Windows
Update service I noticed the server was acting a little
strange (using IE I wasn't able to click on any
javascript links) and the system would run any ActiveX
components.

Recently I tried to run the Windows Update service again
and the system reaches the point where it says that there
are multiple critical updates, but when you click on
the 'Install Now' button nothing happens. The Web
Security settings have been set to 'Medium' and I have
full administrative privilages.

Actually, attempting to install or uninstall any software
will now return a variety of errors (most of them have to
do with not being able to register or load an ActiveX
component).

So today I decided I would backup the server and do a
clean install even know the server is a brand new DELL
PowerEdge 2600 that came with SBS2003 pre-installed from
DELL only about 4-months ago. The only other software
that was installed was Symantec Mail Security 3.0. When I
tried to backup the server to a removable hard drive
backup software hangs and reports a ton of volume shadow
copy service errors in the registry.

Has anyone run into anything simular? At this point the
server is still running, sharing files and hosting email
but we cannot do any maintenance and it looks like some
of the Symantec Virus services will not run and
uninstalling/reinstalling is not possible. It is like
there is a "ghost in the machine".

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

EricS