Not sure why this was this way but it worked so its fixed 🙂 wooo hooooo
use [database name]
sp_droppublication @publication='publication_name', @ignore_distributor = 1
then restarted the services..and the publication was still there then I tried the following code
USE master
EXEC sp_removedbreplication @dbname='DB_NAME'
GO
exec sp_dropsubscription @subscriber='subscription_name'-- If you find anything under +
exec sp_droppublication 'publication name'
And this above worked and got rid of the orphaned subscriptions and all..wooo hoooo again
I then followed up with dropping the distribution db so that I can start all over from scratch. Which will be perfect and I don't have to do a re-install
--dropping distribution db
use master
go
alter database distribution set offline;
drop database distribution;
Thanks for everyone' s assistance...greatly appreciated.
DHeath