Apply SP1 BEFORE installing the ArcGIS Server 9.3.1 update

I recently ran into some strange issues with FIND tasks in ArcGIS Server 9.3.1. This machine was a clean install and went from did 9.3 straight to 9.3.1. Everything looked great, (especially the speedy MSD files...another blog post on these coming soon) except our FIND tasks were broken. Nothing would return. No error, just an empty json response.

So, tried lots of different things...Different datasources (different flavors of SDE, file based GDB, etc) to no avail. Well this morning, I wiped the machine and did a reinstall and did 9.3 --> 9.3 sp1 --> 9.3.1 and the FIND task now works.

It could have been a pure coincidence, but to those that are upgrading or building a new box, it doesn't hurt to apply sp1 before moving to the 9.3.1 update. Usually, these things contain cumulative fixes, so I don't really have a good explanation. Special thanks to Ravi from the Redlands ArcGIS Server team for assisting me with this issue.