Hi there, (I originally posted this topic FYI!!) Yeah, it's not a problem with mySQL. I can access and work happily with SQL databases. In fact, I've already designed the databases on my local machine using MyCC. I've heard this error is coming from within the DBI module, but don't know enough about it (obviously) to know for sure. When I install MySQL and Perl under Windows 98 on the same PC, it works no problem whatsoever. It just seems to be under Windows 2000. I've tried this on two independant machines and the same result appears on both of them. This is the order in which I set things up (under 98 and 2k)... 1. Install ActivePerl 5.6.1.633 2. Install DBI and DBD-mySQL modules for Perl (latest from CPAN) 3. Install mySQL 4. Installed mySQL service and started (running fine) 5. Try my program. The wierdest thing about this is that it all works no problem under 98. I've heard of people using the same development environment as I am, that have no probs under 2K. Any more ideas? Thanks, JT