Hey Robert,
What a pleasant surprise! Nice to hear from you. We figured it out. The problem was solved by installing the MDAC 2.1 drivers on the server. The hitch was to make sure you are installing using the INSTALLER mode or something like that. We hard booted the server and it worked fine from there. Maybe this thread will help someone save some time in the future.
I'll give you a call after I have a chance to give Natasha the update.
Jose
"Once in a while you get shown the light...
in the strangest of places if you look at it right"
Jerry