------------------------------------------------------
11-1-2007 -- The DELETE line is where the problem lies. Here is the code:

use DBI;

$dbh = DBI->connect('dbi:ODBC:Tradchem2005');
#--select * from xcontacts
$sql1 =
"UPDATE xcontacts
SET NEWCOLUMN8 = 'X'
where sysparentid in (select sysrowid from clients where loaddate >= (GETDATE()-7)) and contactname <> '' ";

#--XCONTACT TO CONTACTS
$sql2 = "delete from contacts where sysrowid in (select sysrowid from Xcontacts where newcolumn8 = 'X') ";

$sql2a = "
Insert Contacts Select Address4, AddInterests, Child1Birthday, Child1info, Child1Name, Child2Birthday, Child2Info, Child2Name,
SysRowID, SysRoute, SysParentID, SysDateAdded, SysDateUpdated, Address1, Address2, Address3, CallWhen, City, ColComment,
CustomerName, ContactName, Country, county, Division, EmailAddress, Ext1, Ext2, GoalofCall, HotButton, LastCalled, Leadstatus,
Birthday, PersonalData, PersonalIntr, ZipCode, ReportsTo, Salutation, Specialty, State, Phone1, Phone2, FAXnumber, Title, TypeUpdate,
cellPhone, Pager, SysParentTable, ReportsToID, Child3Birthday, Child3Info, Child3Name, Department, Hobbies, MoveDate, MoveTo,
NewColumn1, NewColumn2, NewColumn3, NewColumn4, NewColumn5, NewColumn6, NewColumn7, NewColumn8, OrphanContact,
Spouse, Spousebd, SpouseInfo, WedAnniv, QBType, PhoneType, ContactIDnumber, ContactNumber, ContactPurpose, CountryPhoneCode,
FirstName, LastName, YearStarted, CorpID, ContactNameOldSys

from Xcontacts where newcolumn8 = 'X'";

$sql3 = "
UPDATE Xcontacts
SET NEWCOLUMN8 = NULL
WHERE NEWCOLUMN8 = 'X' ";

$sql4 = "
UPDATE contacts
SET NEWCOLUMN8 = NULL
WHERE NEWCOLUMN8 = 'X' ";

$getinfo = $dbh->prepare($sql1);
$getinfo->execute();
$rcount1 = $getinfo->rows;
print OUTFILE ("SQL1 execute finished -- $rcount1 \n");

$getinfo = $dbh->prepare($sql2);
$getinfo->execute();
$rcount2 = $getinfo->rows;
print OUTFILE ("SQL2 execute finished -- $rcount2\n");

$getinfo = $dbh->prepare($sql2a);
$getinfo->execute();
$rcount2a = $getinfo->rows;
print OUTFILE ("SQL2a execute finished -- $rcount2a\n");

$getinfo = $dbh->prepare($sql3);
$getinfo->execute();
$rcount3 = $getinfo->rows;
print OUTFILE ("SQL3 execute finished -- $rcount3\n");

$getinfo = $dbh->prepare($sql4);
$getinfo->execute();
$rcount4 = $getinfo->rows;
print OUTFILE ("SQL4 execute finished -- $rcount4\n");

$dbh->disconnect;
close (OUTFILE);

Nothing in that jumps out at me as wrong (on the Perl side) except that you don't set RaiseError, warnings, or strict. Perhaps adding those will give you some more information.

On the off-chance that there's a bug in your version of DBD::ODBC's rows(), you could see if the results are any different with just $rcount2 = $getinfo->execute() which should also return the rows affected for non-SELECT statements.

Please, show your code (and maybe SQL-code for table creation).