Unable to use OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers

I am having difficulting creating OLE DB connection using the OLE DB Provider
for ODBC Drivers. From the Microsoft Data Link Properties dialog, a new
connection is attempted; when the OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers is
selected and then the next button is clicked there is the following error
message:

Provider is no longer available. Ensure that the provider is installed
properly.

The MDAC component checker was used to determine that the Windows XP SP 2
computer is using the "MDAC 2.8 SP1 on Windows XP SP2". There did not appear
to be any mismatches that could cause this issue.

The fix outlined in the knowledge base artile 899861 has not been attempted
yet as the error message does not match the symptoms.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
.