C# – OleDbConnection.Open() throws a “No error message available” error before even contacting the SQL Server

Using a connection string of

"Provider=SQLOLEDB;Data Source=localhost;User ID=foo;password=bar;Database=CodeLists;Pooling=true;Min Pool Size=20;Max Pool Size=30;"

I get the following stack trace

System.Data.OleDb.OleDbException: No
error message available, result code:
-2147024770(0x8007007E). at System.Data.OleDb.OleDbServicesWrapper.GetDataSource(OleDbConnectionString
constr, DataSourceWrapper&
datasrcWrapper) at
System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnectionInternal..ctor(OleDbConnectionString
constr, OleDbConnection connection)
at
System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnectionFactory.CreateConnection(DbConnectionOptions
options, Object poolGroupProviderInfo,
DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnection
owningObject) at
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.CreateNonPooledConnection(DbConnection
owningConnection,
DbConnectionPoolGroup poolGroup) at
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.GetConnection(DbConnection
owningConnection) at
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.OpenConnection(DbConnection
outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory
connectionFactory) at
System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection.Open()

I get this error even if I change the server URL from localhost to hkfjhuidhf which is invalid, so I assume it's an issue on the server with respect to OleDb connection/setup and/or the MDAC.

The server is Windows Server 2003 running the latest service pack and the MDAC is 2.8 SP2.

The code I'm using is:

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    private void run_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        output.Text = string.Empty;
        try
        {
            OleDbConnection connection;
            try
            {
                connection = new OleDbConnection(conString.Text);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Error creating connection");
                put(ex.ToString());
                return;
            }

            OleDbCommand command;
            try
            {
                command = connection.CreateCommand();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Error creating command");
                put(ex.ToString());
                return;
            }

            command.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
            command.CommandText = "select top 10 * from " + table.Text;

            if (connection.State != ConnectionState.Open)
                connection.Open();

            OleDbDataReader reader;

            try
            {
                reader = command.ExecuteReader();

                if (reader.HasRows)
                {
                    string @out = string.Empty;
                    while (reader.Read())
                    {
                        for (int i = 0; i < reader.FieldCount; i++)
                        {
                            @out += reader[i] + ", ";
                        }
                    }
                    put(@out);
                }
                reader.Close();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                put(ex.ToString());
            }
            finally
            {
                connection.Close();
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            put(ex.ToString());
        }

    }

    private void put(string message)
    {
        output.Text += message+Environment.NewLine;
    }
}

And this falls over at the connection.Open()

Does anyone have any ideas? I've reinstalled MDAC from the inf file, however I've read some articles slating SP2 of MDAC 2.8 with regards to .Net code.

Any and all input is extremely welcome.