Might as well move to the latest ACE provider:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=c06b8369-60dd-4b64-a44b-84b371ede16d&displaylang=en

Sample query:

SELECT *

FROM OPENROWSET('Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0',

'Excel 12.0;Database=C:\sample_file.xlsx;',

'SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]') ;