>The server is win 98 se
>The client is windows NT server 4

I read in an MS KB article (don't remember which one) that the DCOM server must already be running on a a Win95 machine. I believe the same is true for a Win98 box.

With NT/Win2K acting as the server, the DCOM server will automatically run when instantiated. This is not the case using the less robust operating systems.

HTH.