IIS random (sorta) 500 errors

I have a Win2k Server (sp4) system running IIS 5. I wanted this system to serve for both ASP and PHP applications (some legacy stuff that), as such I've also installed PHP 5.0.3 (ISAPI not CGI).

First the PHP problems: Every third viewing of a simple php script (<? phpinfo(); ?>) returns this error to the client:

The remote procedure call failed and did not execute.

And this to the system log:

Type: Warning
Source: W3SVC
EventID: 37
Description: Out of process application '/LM/W3SVC/1/Root' terminated unexpectedly.

If I switch the Application Protection level to Low (IIS Process) the error becomes:

Type: Warning
Source:W3SVC
EventID: 36
Description: The server failed to load application '/LM/W3SVC/1/Root'. The error was
'Class not registered
'.

Again this only happens every third page view, like clockwork. (with an exception I'll get to in a minute)

When switching the application protection levels around, I also get errors. About half the time when going from low to high I am presented with pop-up that says: RPC Server Not Availible. About half the time when switching from high to low, I get this error upon first page view and then it goes back to the "normal" erroring every third view:

Type: Error
Source: Service Control Manager
EventID: 7031
Description: The World Wide Web Publishing Service service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 0/1/2 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 0 milliseconds: No action.

The ASP issue is just random 500 errors with no event log entry... the notable part of that is that when I don't get the 500 error there are entires in the application log for the starting and stopping of the Active Server Pages Service. When a 500 error is received no such log entry is made.

Lastly, when I restart IIS I always get the following error:

Type: Error
Source: W3SVC
EventID: 105
Description: The server was unable to register the administration tool discovery information. The administration tool may not be able to see the server. The data is the error code.

Even though the network connection is clearly present.

I've gone through every fix I can find from synching the IWAM passwords to rebuilding to COM+ system (including reapplying suggested hotfixes and reinstalling IIS altogether). These lead to slightly different errors, different "work arounds" typically result in loss of all functionality... sadly this is the best I can get it working.

The server presented none of these errors before installing PHP, somehow this lead to IWAM being outta synch and removal of the IIS elements from COM+... since then it hasn't worked right at all.

If you have any other questions just let me know, I've tried to be comprehensive here (almost forgot, no virus protection is on the system, and it is virus free).

Any help would be great, cause I am just plain out of ideas at this point and reinstallation of the entire system isn't an option at this time.

cheers,

catch

All I can offer is that on my XP Pro box with php 5.0.1 installed (also not cgi) I don't have any problems like you describe with either php or asp or html or anything.

Perhaps something went terribly, terribly wrong with your installation of IIS or PHP? You might reinstall, making sure you are a local administrator user, and that your filesystem is NTFS.