Why does the ODBC connection call fail when connecting with Access?

[Lucy Lane]

I get: [Microsoft][ODBC driver for Oracle][Oracle]ORA-06413: Connection not open. (#6413) [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Driver's SQLSetConnectAttr failed IM006 0 [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Driver's SQLSetConnectAttr failed (#0)

Don't really know what this means.

[Stewart Ross]

Hi. It is difficult to advise you on this one as you don't tell us the context in which this error has occurred.

It is possible that you don't have the relevant ODBC driver for Oracle set up on the machine you are using. Or, the ODBC driver may well be present but the username or password (if that is how it is set up) is now invalid.

I'd suggest that your first step should be to check whether or not you can connect successfully using the ODBC driver itself. Dependent on what version of Windows you are using you'll probably find this by going to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, and Data Sources (ODBC). Look for either a System or File DSN entry relating to your Oracle server instance and test the connection from there. If you can't find an entry then you clearly don't have an ODBC connection set up as yet on the PC you are using.

If you can connect successfully from the ODBC administrator software you know that there is no inherent connection problem, in which case the Access connection is either using the wrong username or password (if applicable).

If you can't connect via the ODBC administrator there is a more fundamental problem with your connection - either you are unable to establish a connection to the server concerned, or you are being denied access (possibly through incorrect connection parameters or changes made administratively at the server end that have not been made at your end (the client end) of the connection).

You'd need to refer 'can't connect' issues relating to the fundamental connection to your Oracle system to your system administrators for resolution.

-Stewart