Thanks for all your inputs, but we still have the same issue and error. The userid used to connect is the same for all the db's. The 2 db's in qns were created recently using the script of an existing db. The qry runs  find if its run from the db itslef...but if i run it from the linked server it blows up. Have checked all the permissions. Its works fine from app end...but when we qry this db tables using linked server it fails. There are about 80 db's and rest all work fine using linked server. Thank you for any help.