Management points cannot communicate with a site server when you apply Systems Management Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (886165)

SYMPTOMS

If you apply Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) to a site computer, you experience the following symptoms:

Management points do not report client inventory information to the SMS site server.
Status messages are not reported to the SMS site server.
Data discovery records (DDRs) are not copied to the SMS site server.
On management points, you receive entries that are similar to the following entries in the driveletter:\Sms\Logs\Mpfdm.log file:
~**ERROR: Cannot access the destination inbox path , Win32 Error = 3 $$<SMS_MP_FILE_DISPATCH_MANAGER><DateTime><ThreadID>
On the site system where SMS 2003 SP1 is applied, you receive an entry that is similar to the following entry in the driveletter:\Smssetup.Log file:
SMS Site Component Manager detected that the SMS_SERVER_BOOTSTRAP_ServerName service was installed on site system "\\ServerName", but SMS Site Component Manager could not deinstall the service. The operating system reported error 1072: The specified service has been marked for deletion.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if all the following conditions are true:

The Services Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in was used to stop an SMS service before the upgrade, and has not released the handle to the service.
The SMS 2003 SP1 Setup program tries to upgrade the service that has an open handle.
The upgrade of the SMS service is delayed until the handle to the SMS service is released by the operating system.
The SMS 2003 SP1 Setup program does not create the inboxes until the SMS service upgrade is completed.
The management point tests the inboxes on the destination site server, and determines that it cannot access one or more inbox folders.

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, wait until all inboxes have been created on the site computer, and then use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Wait 6 hours for the SMS_MP_FILE_DISPATCH_MANAGER thread of the SMS_EXECUTIVE service to try again

The SMS_MP_FILE_DISPATCH thread on the management point will verify that inboxes can be accessed on destination site servers every 6 hours. If all inboxes can be accessed, communication between the site server and the management point is restored.

Method 2: Restart the SMS_EXECUTIVE server on the management point

You can restart the SMS_EXECUTIVE service to force the SMS_MP_FILE_DISPATCH thread to test that the inboxes on destination site servers can be accessed. To do this, follow these steps:

Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
In the list of services, right-click SMS_EXECUTIVE, and then click Restart.

Note You must repeat this procedure on each management point for the site.

MORE INFORMATION

SMS site computers use inbox folders to transfer information. If a management point cannot access any one of the inboxes on a site server, the management point will not try to access any inbox on the site server where the problem was detected.

Every 6 hours the SMS_MP_FILE_DISPATCH thread of the SMS_EXECUTIVE service on a management point tests to determine if the inbox folders on a destination site server can be accessed. If the inboxes can be accessed, the management point restores communication to the site server.

The SMS 2003 SP1 Setup program may take a long time to create the required inbox folders if an open handle to an SMS service exists when the Setup program is run.

For additional information about a related topic, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

287516 BUG: Service startup type is disabled