Subcription agent job error: An execption occurred in the Distribution subsystem.

We've been successfully installing a VS.Net application on about 40
clients so far and have run into one machine where our subscription
agent jobs fail with the following error: "An execption occurred in
the Distribution subsystem. The step failed" What does this error
mean?

Interestingly, the same subscription succeeds when started using the
command line distrib.exe, which would lead to the conclusion that
there's a problem with SQL Server Agent. We don't think it is
security, the Agent service is running under the same login as the
user of the computer (who is a local administrator). This same user
can synchronize successfully when installed on another computer.

The client is MSDE 2000 sp3 and the publisher/distributer is SQL
Server 2000 sp3. The client has anonymous transactional and merge
subscriptions that fail with the same error.

We use a standard installation package for the application to ensure
consistancy. The clients began with a standard ghost image, though
the user may have installed applications since the machine was
ghosted.

We've been searching for a solution and have only found dead ends.
Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Thank you.

Kees VanTilburg
VanTilburg Enterprises

 

The only time I have seen this is when there was some garbage data in the
tables we were replicating. It seems that the client application was adding
these.

Normally when you get an exception it means you are running into a bug and
you should report it to PSS. You will not be charged for the call.

It is possible that there is something wrong with your SQL Server/MSDE
subscriber, in which case you should reapply the sp.