HI John, 

thanks for replying.  the Login isn't hardcoded, when you open the .exe it first prompts for a user and password, then passes those on (assuming through the ODBC) and authenticates against the sql server login.

I know the sql server login itself is fine, as I've tested outside the app, one quirk, when I cut and paste a password (even lower case letters) it works fine, it's only when you try to type the password and it contains lower case letters.  Very odd.  And this exact same app. works fine when authenticating against a copy of the db living on sql 2000.