FIX: Stranded Tables After Deadlocks on System Tables (159783)

SYMPTOMS

Concurrent CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE statements can cause deadlocks on system tables. If the process running CREATE TABLE is chosen as the deadlock victim, it is possible to see stranded tables with sysstat=195 in sysobjects. If you try to drop the table, it will fail with the following message:

Msg 3701, Level 11, State 1, Server bp71092, Line 1
Cannot drop the table '%s', because it doesn't exist in the system
catalogs.

A 'create table' also fails, with the message:

Msg 2714, Level 16, State 1, Server bp71092, Line 1 There is already an
object named '%' in the database.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft SQL Server versions 4.2x, 6.0, and 6.5. This problem has been corrected in U.S. Service Pack 2 for Microsoft SQL Server version 6.5. For more information, contact your primary support provider.