Oracle linked server

Hello,
I have a SQL 2003 SP3a on Windows 2003 and am connecting to an Oracle 9i
database.
I've set up the linked server and necessary permissions and it has been
working successfully for months. However occasionally after rebooting the
machine I receive this message when attempting a query from the linked
server:
Server: Msg 7399, Level 16, State 1, Line 3
OLE DB provider 'MSDAORA' reported an error.
[OLE/DB provider returned message: Oracle client and networking components
were not found. These components are supplied by Oracle Corporation and are
part of the Oracle Version 7.3.3 or later client software installation.
Provider is unable to function until these components are installed.]
OLE DB error trace [OLE/DB Provider 'MSDAORA' IDBInitialize::Initialize
returned 0x80004005: ].
I can still connect successfully through either Oracle Net Configuration
Assistant or an ODBC DSN and the only way I know how to solve this is by
stopping and restarting the SQL Server instance. The only thing I can think
of is that during server startup, the SQL Service gets started before the
oracle service starts, and somehow SQL caches this connection.
Has anyone experienced this? If so, what's the best way to deal with this
without stopping the server?
Thank you,
Aaron Lowe
In some similar situations, reinstalling the Oracle client
on the server when logged in using the service account has
fixed this issue.
-Sue
On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 10:28:46 -0500, "Aaron M. Lowe"
<alowe@.uic.edu> wrote:

>Hello,
>I have a SQL 2003 SP3a on Windows 2003 and am connecting to an Oracle 9i
>database.
>I've set up the linked server and necessary permissions and it has been
>working successfully for months. However occasionally after rebooting the
>machine I receive this message when attempting a query from the linked
>server:
>Server: Msg 7399, Level 16, State 1, Line 3
>OLE DB provider 'MSDAORA' reported an error.
>[OLE/DB provider returned message: Oracle client and networking components
>were not found. These components are supplied by Oracle Corporation and are
>part of the Oracle Version 7.3.3 or later client software installation.
>Provider is unable to function until these components are installed.]
>OLE DB error trace [OLE/DB Provider 'MSDAORA' IDBInitialize::Initialize
>returned 0x80004005: ].
>I can still connect successfully through either Oracle Net Configuration
>Assistant or an ODBC DSN and the only way I know how to solve this is by
>stopping and restarting the SQL Server instance. The only thing I can think
>of is that during server startup, the SQL Service gets started before the
>oracle service starts, and somehow SQL caches this connection.
>Has anyone experienced this? If so, what's the best way to deal with this
>without stopping the server?
>Thank you,
>Aaron Lowe
>