WP 2.51/2.6 won’t install on Windows Server running Apache

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

The setup: Windows Server 2003 (64 bit); Apache 2.2.4; MySQL 5.1; PHP 5.2.5.

The problem: WordPress 2.51/2.6 will not install at all.

Error message: “The exception unknown software exception (0xc0000005) occurred in the application at location 0x00b5ab4a.” This message occurs just after I input the DB information in the WordPress form and click to submit. Apache hangs for a moment, then restarts. Windows then gives the above error message.

Also, Windows Event Log says the faulting application is httpd.exe (Apache) and php5ts.dll, but doesn’t give any reason other than the software exception.

What makes this curious is I can install WordPress on my testing machine (XP Pro with the same versions and configurations of Apache, MySQL, and PHP) in about 60 seconds. All of my other PHP scripts and MySQL connections, which I wrote for our site, all work just fine on Server 2003.

I have searched Google with every combination of words I can think to try, but no luck. So, again, any help will be greatly appreciated. I have the feeling it’s something simple, but I’m missing it.