This issue is related to MDAC, and can be repaired/reinstalled by doing the following:
To repair a copy of MDAC 2.8 on WinXP with SP2 installed
first, locate the mdac.inf file in
c:\windows\inf
right click and select "install"
when prompted for a location, point to
c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386
then when promted for the XP-CD,
either load the CD or point to c:\i386
this reinstalls / repairs MDAC 2.8