Change nettwork protocol, used to connect to SQL Server, to TCP/IP. It's much faster than Named pipes.

>We are encountering frequent but not consistent errors when connecting to SQL 2005 from a client that has Windows98 OS. Below is the error that we are experiencing
>
>Connection failed:
>SQL State: '01000'
>SQL Server Error: 67
>[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][Named Pipes]ConnectionOpen(CreateFile()).
>Connection failed:
>SQL State: '08001'
>SQL Server Error: 67
>[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver]Client unable to establish connection
>
>We have already installed the MDAC 2.8 SP1 on the client machines and still the problem persists.
>