I agree that this has to do with the number of files that are open. I've seen this kind of thing happen in older FoxPro versions when you run out of file handles. FoxPro can't open a file, but doesn't bother to report an error. Opening a DBF without its corresponding CDX is a classic example of this.

It sounds to me like either the workstation or the server is running out of file handles. One expiriment you could try would be to try opening several files on a workstation that is having this problem (Word documents for instance). Also, try opening several files on the server from another workstation. See if you can generate an error. This may not work on the server because more file handles could be available when you run the test, but it's worth a try.

>I don't know where to do this in NT (I'm more of a Netware rat), but I would watch the files being opened by the workstations by monitoring network activity of the user logged in at that workstation. If you're opening the files programmatically (rather than as a part of the data environment), place a WAIT WINDOW after loading each table, so you have a chance to see the files being loaded from the network server console one group at a time.
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>It would be interesting to see if it's related to the number of files being opened at that workstation, or whether the OS is giving up after requesting a file be opened. I don't recall what you said the workstation was running (NT? 95? 98?) but if there's a setting to increase the network timeout (a setting at the workstation), I'd try tripling that for testing purposes.
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>Hope this didn't ramble too much - just stream of consciousness this morning...