MSSQL 2000 error

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We have a small business and we use a biometric time clock for our employees. In addition to the time clock software it uses MSSQL 2000 DB. I have successfully installed this on at least 3 computers all running windows XP SP3. I have a new computer that I built earlier this year and installed the time clock software including MSSQL 2000 but when I start up the software I get this error message…”Cannot resolve collation conflict for equal to operation”. I know virtually nothing about DB software and I am at a loss as to what the problem is. The time clock company says it is a problem with the MSSQL software and they can’t resolve it although they have tried to help me figure it out. It is currently running on 2 computers that I built that are both running windows XP SP3 and have the same SQL server driver version. I am at a loss as to where to go with this issue. Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks For Lookin’,
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Do you know how to use Enterprise Manager? If so then take a look at the properties of the tempdb database and make note of the default collation name. That will be under the ‘General‘ tab in the ‘Maintenance‘ section. Next check the default collation name for your working database. If they are different then chances are the default collation was incorrectly specified when installing the database server. Here’s an article that explains that; http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa214328(SQL.80).aspx

The next question is, does the time clock software perform the database server installation automatically or is that something that you do as a manual step? If it’s a manual installation then you should check a known good install to see what the default collation is then perform a re-install making sure that you specify the correct collation name. If the db server is automatically installed then the mystery deepens as to why the installation isn’t consistent with the other installs.

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I don’t even know what Enterprise Manager is. Where do I find it? Is it a program I have to download?

If it’s a manual installation then you should check a known good install to see what the default collation is then perform a re-install making sure that you specify the correct collation name.

What am I looking for specifically and where do I look for it? Am I looking in the time clock software or the MSSQL software? I really know nothing about databases.

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This is means you have two different columns from the database being compared and those colums have different collations. If the database was created by the time clock software, they should be aware of the issue.

The problem can be overcome, but the solution depends on whether you can determine where the error is occurring and, determining that, if you can change the SQL that is causing it.

Another way to solve it would involve some SQL Server knowledge and this knowledge would not require changes to the application. You could script one of the “good” databases and then use the script to create the tables in your current problematic database. Of course, you’d have to drop the existing tables before doing this.

I am also assuming there are no differences in database structure between the software versions involved.

If the existing database tables have relevant data, you probably would need to create a third database, create the proper table structure using the script, copy the data from the existing database to the third one, then drop the existing DB and rename the third one to take the name that software expects.

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Solved! A corrupt database-uninstalled time clock software but not MSSQL software reinstalled and gave database a different name. Sometimes you don’t have to be good, you just have to get lucky.

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