SQL 2000 Enterprise manager unknown error

[Dan]

For some reason, enterprise manager quit connecting to any
server. The error that it gives when trying ot connect is
Unable to connect to server - invalid attribute/option
identifier.

I did a complete search of technet and MSDN, finding no
reference to this. I then completely releaded windows2000
and SQL tools on my machine and everything worked
correctly. 1 week went by, and now it is occuring again.

I am usinmg Windows 2000 Pro, SP3. SQL2000 client tools
are installed.

I am able to connect to my server inside of an access adp
project, and all odbc connections are correct and working.

Any help would be appriciated

[Bill Hollinshead [MS]]

Hi Dan,

First, you should run component checker
(http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q307/2/55.asp) to verify
the MDAC setup is OK, and to get the current version of MDAC that is setup
upon this workstation. Also,
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q232/0/60.asp may help you
pinpoint a cause.

If the following describes the problem:
{
Following error occurs when trying to connect from a client using SQL
Enterprise Manager -
A connection could not be established to <SERVER NAME>

Reason: Invalid attribute/option identifier

Please verify SQL Server is running and check your SQL Server registration
properties (by right-clicking on <Server> node) and try again.
}
Then:
{
Check the version of SQLSRV32.DLL. Note that there can be multiple versions
of that file upon the computer, and third party software can unsupportedly
point MDAC away from the correct version - see
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q259/5/69.asp - and
unsupportedly register an earlier version. SQL Server 2000's client tools
need to run upon at least MDAC 2.6 (even if your applications do not need
that latest MDAC functionality <g>). If this file is an earlier version,
then upgrade MDAC 2.6 (or 2.7) to the latest service pack (in an attempt to
get sqlservr32 updated). Keep an eye on what software was installed just
before the error is next seen and contact that 3rd party for a fix (you can
also request that Microsoft be involved with that 3rd party if you decide
to open a Microsoft support case and if the symptoms indicate the 3rd
party's software is doing such indirection). You may be able to regsrv32 -u
the current SQLSRV32.DLL, copy the SQLSRV32.DLL version from your MDAC
service pack (or from the SQL Server CD, or from a SQL Server Service Pack
upgrade, but best not done if an MDAC service pack had been applied since
SQL Server was set up) to the winnt\system32 folder, and then regsrv32 that
winnt\system32\SQLSRV32.DLL.
}
There are other symptoms (such as an addition MMC snapin failing to
initialize error message, or seeing that same Invalid attribute/option
identifier error message when using Query Analyzer) that usually also boil
down to a SQLSRV32.DLL version mismatch, or may be due to a corrupted
SQLSRV32.DLL, and/or perhaps the same problem with ODBCBCP.DLL.

Tip: In Windows 2000 you can <Ctrl>C a standard dialog box and paste the
complete text of such a dialog box into notepad (or a newsgroup post <g>).
I'm not sure this would work (it has to be a standard dialog) in this case
but it may be worth attempting (the next time) because the dialog box's
title bar also gets copied.

Thanks,

Bill Hollinshead
Microsoft, SQL Server

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