>>Tried the latter suggestion. On the first one, are you referring to Client for Microsoft Networks.
>
>Yes, that's what the service. We're you able to get your server up?
>
>-Mike

Yes, I have Client for Microsoft Networks and no, I haven't been able to get it started. I broke down and called M$ for advice and they gaveme a variety of things to do, none of which changed the environment allowing it to start. They seem to think that there are conflicting common dll's that the install process is not replacing which are missing methods that affect the start. We looked at one, the version of comcat.dll which must be 4.7 and I had 5.1. I asked for a list of dll's that SQL tries to install but they don't have such a thing. The other things they suggested that I do (so the rest of the community gets something out of the $245 I spent) were:

1. Install Explorer 5.0
2. Delete all temp files in \windows\temp and \temp.
3. Run regclean (a Microsoft public domain tool)
4. Make sure no TSR's are loaded when you install.

Other than that, no other suggestions. Their final suggestion is dump my Windows98 install and reinstall. Problem is that this is a development workstation with about 120 installed programs. My registry is about 10 MB and it is no minor task to do that. Anyway, there you have it.

Thanks for your input. If you have any other gems, let me know.

Bill