>>I had previously found that article but it's not a fix for me (unfortunately). That article is really a guide for troubleshooting the initial installation of sql server. This is an established server with very infrequent, intermittent errors. Thanks though.
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>I changed my connection string from:
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>driver={SQL Server Native Client 10.0};server=TEST1;Failover_Partner=TEST2;database=testdatabase;uid=myusername;pwd=mypassword;
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>to
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>driver={SQL Server Native Client 10.0};server=TCP:192.168.0.10,1433;Failover_Partner=TCP:192.168.0.11,1433;database=testdatabase;uid=myusername;pwd=mypassword;
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>and this appears to have fixed the random error message.
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>For others with a busy sql server it seems leaving no ambiguity in the connection string solves certain intermittent errors.

Good job! What a pain in the butt that must have been to solve.