connections work but record sets do not

[pkouvelis]

all my pages are still properly accessing their related databases, but when i
use dreamweaver, i can no longer create a recordset, or even use my old ones.
when i pull up an old connection or create a new one - my isp insists i use
custom connection strings - when i push the test button, it says "connection
was made successfully". so what is it testing? because, when i then go to
create a record set using that connection, it says "unable to retrieve tables
from this connection, click on the 'define...' button to test this connection."
does anyone know what has happened? it happened to all my connections at the
same time. everything is still in its original directory, and as i said, the
pages still work. i dont know where to begin to look.
thanks
peter

[aronk]

asp or php?