XADM: Information Store Service Hangs After You Apply Service Pack 4

After you upgrade to Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 4 (SP4), the Internet Mail Service queues may back up, and the information store may not shut down properly.

This behavior may be caused by a thread deadlock. Two threads are contending for each other's critical section, and this causes the Internet mail (IMAIL) conversion process to halt, which causes the Internet Mail Service to stop processing e-mail messages, and the mail to queue up. This may also prevent the information store from shutting down properly.

A supported fix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to computers that are experiencing this specific problem. This fix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:NOTE: In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The typical support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

Component: Information Store

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

This behavior can effect any Exchange 5.5 Server which uses IMAIL conversion for Network News Transport Protocol, Post Office Protocol 3 and Internet Message Access Protocol 4 functionality or any Exchange Development Kit (EDK)-based connector which utilizes IMAIL.

The behavior may first be noticed on Internet Mail Gateway servers. The Internet Mail Service will appear to stop processing Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) mail. Normal troubleshooting procedures suggest that you restart the Internet Mail Service or Information Store service. When you attempt to stop the service, the Internet Mail Service or Information Store service will stop responding (hang) and not restart until the server is restarted.