ORACLE / ADO .NET: TNS: Packet Writer Failure in parameterized query

[slvrscremr]

There's got to be something wrong with what I'm doing. The database responds fine with the following code: :) ** Bracketed code is edited to protect the innocent **

Imports System Imports System.Data.OracleClient Public Class Driver Public Shared Sub Main() Dim conn as New OracleConnection conn.ConnectionString = "Data Source=[DBName]; User Id=[User Id]; Password=[Password]" Dim cmd as New OracleCommand cmd.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM USERS WHERE USER_ID = '[USER_ID]'" cmd.Connection = conn cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text Try Dim odr as OracleReader odr = cmd.ExecuteReader() Catch ex As Exception Console.Writeline( ex.Message ) End End Sub End Class

Now, upon replacing :

cmd.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM USERS WHERE USER_ID = '[USER_ID]'"

with a parameterized query like :

cmd.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM USERS WHERE USER_ID = :pUserId" cmd.Parameters.Add( new OracleParameter( ":pUserId", OracleType.VarChar )).Value = "[USER_ID]" )

results in the return of a ORA-12571 : TNS:Packet Writer Failure :( I've tried most everything I can think of and I can't around this. :confused: The environment is Windows 2000 Server, Oracle 9i, and VS 2003. Thanks in advance, Darien "I don't know. I haven't tried today." - Trumpet icon Maynard Ferguson's response when asked how high he could play.