"Specified SQL Server not found" in Excel

[JamesLean]

I have a few Excel spreadsheets that are stored on a shared folder on the network and are accessed by a number of users. Some of these contain data that is queried from our SQL Server via an ODBC DSN set up on each machine.

Until recently these all worked fine but now two users have reported that when they try and refresh the queried data ranges, it times out with the error "Specified SQL Server not found".

There are only two users with this problem, everyone else can still refresh the data fine.

The really weird thing is that all the users also have an application installed which utilises the same DSN and this is still working fine, even for those users who can't refresh the spreadsheet.

The problem users can ping the SQL Server fine and if I test the ODBC DSN connection it connects fine too. I have tried recreating the DSN and upgrading MDAC but no joy.

Another thing, I just created a test spreadsheet with a queried data range using the same DSN and that worked fine. It only seems to be the existing spreadsheets, but it is all of them not just a particular one.

Please help before I go bald..!

--James

 

[BiggJ]

I ran into the exact same problem.

Here's how I fixed it:
1. Start - Run "c:\WINNT\system32\cliconfg.exe"
2. Change default protocol to TCP/IP
3. Apply changes

Sometimes when new applications or updates are installed they change the default protocol to named pipes or something other than TCP/IP.

~Josh