I have a Microsoft Server 2003 machine that will, for no apparent reason, crash when it reaches the Information Store during a backup. Unfortunately it will not do it every time, only sometimes if it is left to backup overnight. The whole computer will just lock up. There are no error messages in the event logs, the only thing that is there is an information message that says "Information Store (3808) BACKUP data transfer method is shared memory (64kb)" and this is apparently supposed to be there. The only software installed on it are Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition v 10.0 and WSUS. There is a batch script that runs a defrag of the C: several hours before the backup but it has worked on numerous servers before this one. If you need any more information please just ask. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Here's a couple of my thoughts;
IS WSUS set to sync any time near the back up ?
Have you tried throw more RAM into the box ? I know WSUS needs at least 1Gb, not to sure about info store, but it's worth a look.

Hey thanks for the quick response. The WSUS does not update any time near the backup. It starts at 8PM while the backup runs at 1AM. Also the server is running 1GB of RAM already.

Backup operation fails when you back up Exchange Server 2003 databases and System State Information at the same time

Assuming your running exchange this looks like a soltuion, or at least an explanation.

Ok I'm not sure if I've found the root of the problem but we found that if you put a raid card in rather than using the onboard raid it doesn't seem to fault. We have two servers that are identical except one has a raid card and one is using onboard. Ironically the onboard one has worked for nearly a full month and only had the problem once where it used to have it every two or three days. The server with the raid card is running perfectly without any problems at all and has been doing so for a couple of weeks now (knock on wood.) The only thing I can think of is that there is an issue with the Intel ICH7R chipset on the motherboard. I cannot find anything information on the net about conflicts between SBS Server 2003 and that chipset but I know there was a different issue with the ICH6R chipset so maybe the problem hasn't been completely rectified.