Web/ftp/SMTP services not starting, Service Control Mgr Ev..

System:
Win2K, SP4, fully patched
3GHz machine lightly loaded, 1 GB RAM, 60GB free on system disk
Static IP address
removed metabase
Administrators have ownership and full rights in MachineKeys folder

Various results trying to start from event log, command window,
services pane, "The parameter is incorrect.", "Not enough resources are
available to complete this operation." -- usually the latter, e.g.:

C:\>net start w3svc -debug
The World Wide Web Publishing Service service is starting.
The World Wide Web Publishing Service service could not be started.
A system error has occurred.
System error 1721 has occurred.
Not enough resources are available to complete this operation.

IIS was added to an existing machine with "Add Windows Components" --
since uninstalled/re-installed IIS several times in applying suggested
registry changes and the un-installation of a firewall.

I have searched here and other places on the web and have found a
plethoa of requests for assistance on this issue, and even a couple of
cases where someone reported that they were able to correct it. In
one, some registry changes were made, in the other a firewall was
uninstalled. Though followed to the letter, neither worked in my case.
Another, described in a seemingly-promising article called "IIS:
Services Fail to Start with Event ID 7023" on support.microsoft.com
described another registry change that doesn't apply -- the key to be
deleted does not exist on this machine.

Any other suggestions would be welcome, as I am trying to get started
with a new copy of Visual Studio 2005 I've received from Microsoft, but
this problem with the server hs kept me from even loading it yet as it
would be pointless.

Thanks.

:Tom