it seems to me you are all missing the whole point.

i want to lock only rows (i don't want SQL to lock page / table).

i'm dealing with a huge runtime application that have a lot of updates , inserts and deletes.

if I will remove the hints, SQL will make up on his own.. and will lock pages/tables as well (this i want to avoid)

now, anyone have an idea why there is a lock escalation in my statement?? although there is TOP clause.

getting rid of the ROWLOCK is impossible as i don't want it to be locked in any other level than ROW.