Can't Register name or connect to database

[aimskee]

I am trying to connect to an MDF database on the SQL Server on a networked machine. I was told the server name was JOHN and given the username and password. It was working briefly last week, but now it won't connect at all. I have checked the server machine. I tried to register "JOHN" and it won't register, saying the server doesn't exist or login not found.
It was there last week, and in fact, there is an INTRANET connected, and since my boss wanted me to, I imported the MDF while it was still working into a new database on INTRANET called "MYData".
Then on my local machine, last week, I imported that data into an MS Access database.
This week, I checked the connection to INTRANET, which was still working, but the tables of the database "Mydata" in the INTRANET were gone!
If I import into Access do they disappear from the server? I thought the import would not REMOVE them from the SQL Server.
HELP in NYC !
I need to reconnect to that MDF, and I need to find the missing data.

 

[MaffewW]

Couple of things,

You say you have checked the server machine, by that do you mean you know you have a server called JOHN because you have been over to it and used it. If so, is the machine being seen on the network. Can you browse data on the physical server. Can you ping JOHN? Have you tried registering it under the IP address instead of the name.

Importing data into access should not remove the data from the sql server. It sounds like it could perhaps also be a permissions thing. Can you provide a bit more info

 

[aimskee]

I'm new at this so I'll try to explain the situation a little better: in Enterprize Manager, there is one SQL Server Group under which there is a Server Registration called INTRANET. There used to be an additional Server Registration called "JOHN". The server is called JOHN and it's running. That is also the name of the man who sits at that machine and that's why it was called John because he is a non-technical manager of the project.
When I had been able to access John, I imported the "Mydata" database into a new database under the INTRANET server registration. Then, on another machine, I imported that to my machine, because JOHN stopped connecting.
When I went to look at the tables in the INTRANET, where they had been last week before I imported, they were gone, only the system tables were there.
Now I cannot access any data in the MDF file. I don't know what happened to those tables.
My project is to make a purely Access version (the reason for the import), and one that runs from SQL Server, until management decides which they want to run with. Hopefully the SQL Server run project, but at this rate I don't know!
So, do you have any idea where the tables went?
Or why I can't register another name in the SQL Server group besides INTRANET? I've tried both Windows and SQL Server authentication, but nothing works.
Luckily new data is coming, and when it does I'll make 100 backups. WHen I got here this MDF was the ONLY copy around and now I can't seem to access it anymore, so that's a bigger problem than JOHN, since under INTRANET, if the data were still there in TABLES under 'MYDATA" database, that would be enough, as I can connect from another networked computer to INTRANET.
Thanks so much for any help!!!

 

[aimskee]

I didn't explain everything that well and should have been clearer:
1) There is one Registered Name in the SQL Server group called INTRANET. I am connected to the mydata.MDF, but it is not showing any of the tables I imported into Access last week.
2) I can't add another SQL Server Registration called JOHN that was there briefly last week, from which I pulled MYDATA and put it into a database on INTRANET - from which the data has disappeared.
3) The SQL Server is running on a machine and its name is JOHN - MSSQL Server.
4) I can ping JOHN, and I tried adding the IP # instead, and it didn't work.
5) This is the way my manager was logging into the data from his machine, to the JOHN server in an ODBC connection. It worked last week.
6) The error message I get when I try to register is SQL Server doesn't exist or Access denied.
So there's a JOHN server running on John's machine and I'm going nuts.
Thanks!

 

[SQLBill]

How many SQL Servers are there? I don't mean registrations, I mean actual SQL Servers.

Here's a possibility if there are more than one SQL Server machines.

The machine you are on (that used to have JOHN) is not the actual SQL Server that has the JOHN Server. It only has a registration to that machine. Find the actual SQL Server with JOHN on it. Right click on JOHN and select properties. Then right click on NETWORK CONFIGURATION. In the right window select TCP/IP and select properties. There is a check box for HIDE SERVER. I'm betting that box is checked. If so, it means the server JOHN exists, but no one is allowed to see it/connect to it. Also, check the port. When HIDE SERVER is selected, it changes the port to (I believe) 2433.

Once you uncheck the HIDE SERVER and change the port to 1433 or whatever it's supposed to be, then you'll be able to register JOHN on other Enterprise Managers.

-SQLBill

 

[aimskee]

On your advice I checked that but it was not hidden. The good news is, I was able to restore the data from a backup which was on a CD. Now I can access that data from the INTRANET server. There is more than one SQL server. The one I was on JOHN, maybe has to be reinstalled. Anyway, I can use INTRANET, and I set up a backup schedule.
Thanks again, Happy weekend!