Well Its working Now !!!

Lessons Learned:
1 Do not destroy the server if you suspect a problem
2 Firebird 1.03.972 will run perfectly on SBS 2003 premium edition
with ISA firewall installed (as Standard-no changes required).
3 Local and Remote connections DO work on SBS2003
4 Running Mcafee Anti virus and Groupshiled on the same server
does NOT cause any problems (Well, that i can see anyway)

WHAT I DID:
Well I actually ran back through all the settings again in the
C:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\services file, actually copied the
line above and slotted it in before the last line to read
"gds_db 3050\tcp #Firebird Access port"
This actually puts it in the correct order , wether this makes any
difference i dont know, used the Active Ports application (Freeware
from SmartLine Inc.) This told me that only 3050 UDP port was
running.

I stopped the Firebird service using the Firebird console, Checked
the ports again still no change, then instead of using ibexpert,
(Dont know why) i started ibsql.exe, it failed because the service
wasn't running, i was pointing at a local gdb file. I tried it
remotely by adding the server name and colon in front Eg
MYSERVER:D:DATA\MYDATABASE.GDB this failed as expected but came up
the connection was activly refused. I started the firebird service
in automatic mode , as a service and start. then went back to ibsql,
it connected locally straing away, then for a laugh i tried it
remotley, IT works , The only thing I actually did was in stall
Adobe Acrobat 6.0, wether that makes a difference to any loading
order i dont know, but its working now.

CONCLUSION:
There is no definate thing as i can see that fixed this problem
restarting the server many times (a usual fix) failed to sort this
out , reinstalling firebird didnt do it, as I said before the only
change made to the syetem was to install Acrobat reader.

I hate this as I know the next time will be on a customers server
and i will spend another 5 days trying to figure out what is wrong.

Comments welcome

Colin Coleman