> No connection string as yet... even isc_service_attach fails, and if I
> "isc_interprete" the error code, I get "cannot attach to service

manager"

> (I'm trying to attach as SYSDBA obviously, and the same test program
> perfectly succeds if I run it as a user with admin rights...).
>
> I can telnet on that port, and a socket is successfully opened,

though the

> connection is obviously dropped as soon as I send over a couple of

chars,

> because I know nothing about the protocol itself! ;)
>
> I've tried with IBExpert, and if I try and open a service connection

(to

> modify the users, for instance), I get the usual "cannot attach to

service

> manager", whereas if I try to connect with a data connection, I get
> "unavailable database"...
>
> This is really getting frustrating... :((
>
> The system I'm testing on is XP Pro, Vers. 2002, SP 2.
>
> Thanks again,
> Rony
>

Rony, we have 300+ sites 99% of which are running 2k or XP, so I
seriously doubt it is related to the environment per se.

I am wondering what you are telling it to connect to. Obviously
something is listening on 3050 (presumably FB, but make sure
especially if IB is installed). I use components that wrap the API
itself, and you can not attempt to connect without providing a
connection string (so perhaps we are on different wavelengths).

Can you connect using iSQL? It should be using the form

[hostname]:[path to database]

eg

Localhost:c:\data\mydb.fdb

I know that if you forget the hostname, then you will have problems
with terminal services, but I have not experienced this problem on XP
or 2K desktop varieties.

Another "gotcha" is that the path to the database is the path from the
perspective of the database server. It must reside on a disk that is
local (ie No shares or mapped drives, even if they map to localhost).

Adam