• Something is holding a lock on your system. It could be a long running process or an uncommitted or unrolledback transaction. Try looking at sys.dm_os_waiting_tasks or sys.dm_tran_locks to see what's there. Most of the time, the timeout is set at the connection level. I think the default is -1, which is wait forever. You could try modifying your connection string to set the value higher.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning