Hi Peter,
1.Make sure that the Altiris Deployment Server DB Management service is actually running.
2. It is required that the Altiris eXpress Server service and Altiris Deployment Server DB Management service are running as a user that has DBO rights to the eXpress database. Check to ensure that the account that the Altiris Deployment Server DB Management service is running as has DBO rights to the eXpress database.
3. Another requirement of the Altiris Deployment Server DB Management service login is that it has administrative rights on the SQL machine as well as the machine it is running on. Check the Windows authentication on both the SQL machine and the machine running the Altiris Deployment Server DB Management service.
4. Make sure that the Altiris Deployment Server DB Management service has rights to run as a service.
Regards,