How do I make an ODBC connection to Oracle?

[zombiechewtoy]

I'm having trouble making an ODBC connection using VB.NET 2005. I have tried nearly every connection string found on connectionstrings.com, in almost every format I can think of.

I have tried both of the following drivers, as well.
Oracle ODBC Driver (version 8.01.05.00)
Microsoft ODBC for Oracle

Basically, I end up with the same generic error no matter what I try. Here's my code.

        Try
            ODBCConnection.ConnectionString = "Driver={Microsoft ODBC for Oracle};Server=xxxx;Uid=xxxx;PWD=xxxx;"
            ODBCConnection.Open()
        Catch ex As Exception
            MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString)
        End Try
 

The following error occurs when I try to open the connection.

[ODBC driver for Oracle][Oracle]ORA-12162: TNS:service name is incorrectly specified
[ODBC Driver Manager] Driver's SQLSetConnectAttr failed
[ODBC Driver Manager] The driver doesn't support the version of ODBC behavior that the application requested (see SQLSetEnvAttr).

It may also be worth noting that changing from Microsoft's Oracle driver, to Oracles driver, gives me a simple [General Error] when I try to open the connection.

I've been struggling with this for a week or more...any help to get me connected would be much appreciated.

[inibhreaslain]

have you tried using
System.Data.OracleClient

[zombiechewtoy]

It requires Oracle 8.1.7 or greater. I'm running 8.1.5 and upgrading is not an option due to compatibility issues with other software we're running.

[zombiechewtoy]

I'm now getting...

ORA-12162 TNS:net service name is incorrectly specified