[2003] IIS Crashing on startup

[Tripredacus]

After much troubleshooting, I have determined that my install of PHP is causing IIS to crash on either boot or a service restart. My original problem(s) did not (always) include this issue but I found it to be the source the further I went. I am out of troubleshooting options that I can find online, so I am reaching out here.

I have installed the Hotfix for this issue but it said it can't install because my Service Pack version (its 2 not 1 as in that thread) it newer and there is no need to do the install. There are two behaviours I am experiencing:

1. If the PHP.INI is in the correct folder, IIS crashes when it tries to start the service. IIS then resumes but only ASP and HTML works.

2. If the PHP.INI is NOT in the correct folder, IIS does NOT crash. PHP works but only on default settings.

Any ideas?