here is what I mean:

declare @a int, @b-2 int

set @a=0

set @b-2 = select count(*) from tablename

while @a <= @b-2

update table where key >= @a

and key < @a+ 1000

set @a = @a+1000  --commit every 1000 row

loop

We could commite the row every row or every so many thousand row depending on how you want to set it up.

mom