Very Computer

I have an Access 95 application with linked SQL Server 6.5 tables on the
backend. The links contain the SQL Server login and password, no use of
trusted connections. The protocol being used is TCP/IP (vs. named pipes).
Users are sporadically presented with SQL Server login prompts while
running the application. There appear to be some coincidental entries in
the event log referring to 'invalid login packet' or 'can't read login
packet'. There may be upwards of 20-25 users connected at any one time.
Maximum connections for SQL Server has been increased with no apparent
impact.

Does anyone know what might lead to this or have any suggestions on aspects
of SQL Server, NT Server, or other areas to check?

Thanks in advance...
--
David A. Kinniburgh
Harper and Shuman, Inc.
Cambridge, MA  USA

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To e-mail, remove NO_SPAM from my address.

When you refer to "links," I assume you're referring to linked SQL tables; did
you check the "Save Password" box when you did the link?  If you created a
query in Access, did you save the connection string with the query?  When you
say "sporadically," do you mean that users seem to be promped randomly, or are
they prompted at the same execution point in the application?  Without knowing
the particulars of your application, especially the manner in which you
interact with SQL Server (e.g. Passthrough queries or Access action queries on
linked tables), it's difficult to determine exactly what's going on, but
perhaps the questions above will suggest some things for you to try.

Is there an error number associated with the "Invalid login packet" message?
Is it possible your users are closing Access with the 3-fingered salute?

The passwords are saved with the linked SQL Server tables. (We do the links
programatically.) I believe that the preservation of the connection string
with the table links satisfies the connection needs relative to queries. We
use a combination of passthrough and Access queries. We have not been able
to reproduce this problem inhouse, and we're not certain that it
reproducible in the field. We're guessing that some resource is being
exhausted? We believe that the error in the log is '17832 - Unable to read
login packet' - this may only be coincidental. There are quite a few
articles that suggest this can happen in a benign sort of way...

Thanks for your response.

Quote:> When you refer to "links," I assume you're referring to linked SQL
tables; did
> you check the "Save Password" box when you did the link?  If you created
a
> query in Access, did you save the connection string with the query?  When
you
> say "sporadically," do you mean that users seem to be promped randomly,
or are
> they prompted at the same execution point in the application?  Without
knowing
> the particulars of your application, especially the manner in which you
> interact with SQL Server (e.g. Passthrough queries or Access action
queries on
> linked tables), it's difficult to determine exactly what's going on, but
> perhaps the questions above will suggest some things for you to try.

> Is there an error number associated with the "Invalid login packet"
message?
> Is it possible your users are closing Access with the 3-fingered salute?

This error is related to hardware problems with in your network.
Maybe a malicious NIC on some malicious station...
When this error arises, try to trace who is the last one connected or the
last one sending a query to the server.

hope this help
Med Bouchenafa