Well, oddly enough, the NT machine has a virus scanner running (Norton) and the 98 machine does not.

Some further investigation has recealed the following:

1. The problem does not manifest itself when the data is local (i.e., NT with data on C and 98 with data on C are comparable).

2. The problem does not manifest itself with data on the netword with SET EXCL ON.

3. The problem ONLY seems to happen when the data is on the network with SET EXCL OFF.

PRELIMINARY CONCLUSION: At this point I have my network guy focusing on the 98 Network client to see what, if anything, is different. We may try the 95 client to see if it works and see what happens with that.