>>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.

That is in
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q165/1/01.asp