SQL 2005 v9.0.2047 (SP1) - The query processor could not produce a query plan

Question

Hi Everyone:
*Before* I actually call up Microsoft SQL Customer Support Services and ask them, I wanted to ping other people to see if you have ever ran into this exact error
"Internal Query Processor Error: The query processor could not produce a query plan. For more information, contact Customer Support Services."
I would have searched the forums myself, but at this moment in time, search is broken :(
If anyone has run into this error before, what conditions would exist that this could happen?  That is, if I can sniff this out with suggestions from the community, I would be happy to do so. 
It is an oddity because if I alter a couple subqueries in the where clause [ i.e., where tab.Col = (select val from tab2 where id='122') ]to not have subqueries [hand coded values], then the t-sql result is fine.  It's not as if subqueries are oddities... I've used them when appropriate.
fwiw - Not a newbie t-sql guy.  ISV working almost daily with t-sql since MS SQL 2000.  I have never seen this message before...at least I don't recall ever seeing it.
Thanks in advance for other suggested examination paths.

Answer 1

This code also produces the error... the text is from an incident a while ago that I reported to microsoft.
--I just found a way to break the query engine. Looks like the SQL Server team missed something. I was generating phony data for test cases, by the way.
--Bad code:
DECLARE @t_Asset TABLE
(Asset_Id INT)
INSERT INTO @t_Asset (Asset_Id) VALUES (1)
INSERT INTO @t_Asset (Asset_Id) VALUES (2)
INSERT INTO @t_Asset (Asset_Id) VALUES (3)
DECLARE @Record_id INT
,@File_id NVARCHAR(MAX)
,@SKP_Cust_id NVARCHAR(MAX)
,@Unique_Barcode NVARCHAR(MAX)
SELECT @Record_Id = (SELECT TOP 1 Asset_Id FROM @t_Asset)
, @file_id = (SELECT LEFT(REPLACE(CAST(NEWID() AS NVARCHAR(50)), '-', ''), 10))
,@Unique_Barcode=(SELECT LEFT(REPLACE(CAST(NEWID() AS NVARCHAR(50)), '-', ''), 15))
go
--Msg 8624, Level 16, State 116, Line 12
--Internal Query Processor Error: The query processor could not produce a query plan. For more information, contact Customer Support Services.
--Code that doesn’t fry the optimizing engine:
DECLARE @t_Asset TABLE
(Asset_Id INT)
INSERT INTO @t_Asset (Asset_Id) VALUES (1)
INSERT INTO @t_Asset (Asset_Id) VALUES (2)
INSERT INTO @t_Asset (Asset_Id) VALUES (3)
DECLARE @Record_id INT
,@File_id NVARCHAR(MAX)
,@SKP_Cust_id NVARCHAR(MAX)
,@Unique_Barcode NVARCHAR(MAX)
SELECT @Record_Id = (SELECT TOP 1 Asset_Id FROM @t_Asset)
SELECT @file_id = (SELECT LEFT(REPLACE(CAST(NEWID() AS NVARCHAR(50)), '-', ''), 10))
SELECT @Unique_Barcode=(SELECT LEFT(REPLACE(CAST(NEWID() AS NVARCHAR(50)), '-', ''), 15))