I wrote a little python script that checks on the status of services. It tested fine at my home office, but now that I'm at my field office, the script will not run on the desktops or servers here. As soon as the script tries to import win32api, it throws "No module named win32api".
However, python for windows extensions seems to be installed. I downloaded the version for python 2.5 from SourceForge and installed it again. The same version of mfc71.dll is in several directories, including c:\program files\ArcGIS\bin, which is also in the python path. mfc71.dll is in windows/system32 as well.
Running windows server 2003, ArcGIS 9.3.1, Python 2.5 here.