The XP machine… froze. Then a BSOD—a real one, not the fake kind. IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL . The error was a ghost. Symantec’s KB article ID 213456 said: “Resolved by upgrading to 14.3.” Circular nonsense.

Jordan’s heart stopped. The management console was the brain. Without it, no policy updates, no reporting, no new deployments. He checked SQL Server. Running. Checked ODBC. Corrupted.

End of log.