Those entries are correct, but I'm going to rummage around in the other system tables to look for anything amiss.  Otherwise, I guess it'll just have to stay on SP3a.  Thanks

OK, I appreciate your time.

Comparing the sqlsp.log from a failed attempt to that of another server that was successful, the first difference (other than instance name and locations) is when the script fails:

11:59:09 Process...

No, those kinds of properties are the same on all instances, and pretty much the installation defaults.

A good thought, but I've already tried that.  I also copied the same SP4 install package to another server and was able to use it to upgrade the instances on...