Well I use the Microsoft Driver for ODBC. I actually solved the problem
by using the AFIELDS function with some slight modifications. It's faster so I'm happy. Thanks for the reply. But I guess it is the MS driver I'll test around with various versions.

>Tim,
>Try changing the 8i ODBC driver and see if that speeds things up. If it does, you know the 9.2 driver is to blame and maybe you can get some relief from Oracle support (although I doubt it). If it works, can you continue with the older driver connecting to the newer server?
>
>HTH.