SQL Server 2005 Enterprise upgrade to SP3 fails

[JAPixley]

I have Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - 9.00.1399.06 (Intel X86) running on a Windows 2003 Enterprise SP2 cluster of 2 nodes. I noticed that the SQL backups work fine when the cluster is on Node A but fail when on Node B (I can run backups manually without issue). I found an error ("Unable to read local eventlog (reason: The parameter is incorrect).") that seems to be a known issue with SQL Server 2005 - 9.00.1399.06 and that it is fixed in SP2. A friend suggested that I could even move to SP3 as it has been stable in their Data Center since January.

I downloaded SQL Server 2005 SP3 and tried to apply it to the backup cluster (an identical set up as production) and it failed. A look at the install log revealed the message, “The product instance MSSQLSERVER been patched with more recent updates.” Apparently, some portion of SQL thinks it has been updated and now will not allow the update to proceed. Research on the web shows that problems installing service packs for SQL 2005 on clusters is fairly common, but none of the articles seemed to address the exact issue I have.

Thanks,
Alex

 

[mrdenny]

When you start the installer it should show you a list of the features which will be upgraded. You can select each one and see what the patch level of each feature that is installed.

Denny
MVP
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)
MCTS (SQL 2005 / SQL 2005 BI / SQL 2008 DBA / SQL 2008 DBD / SQL 2008 BI / MWSS 3.0: Configuration / MOSS 2007: Configuration)
MCITP (SQL 2005 DBA / SQL 2008 DBA / SQL 2005 DBD / SQL 2008 DBD / SQL 2005 BI / SQL 2008 BI)

My Blog