Thanks again, for replying

Now, however, I am getting this error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object: string name = e.NewValues["name"].ToString();

I've changed my HTML to this:   

<asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server"
AutoGenerateEditButton="True"
OnRowEditing="GridView1_RowEditing"
OnRowCancelingEdit="GridView1_RowCancelingEdit"
OnRowUpdating="GridView1_RowUpdating"></asp:GridView>

to eliminate a row editing not handled error,

and changed the update parameter slightly to eliminate the decsription not defined error:
this line: pAdapter.Update(name, desc, id);

I've also added a row cancelling event and the cancel event works, but it still throws the above error (Object reference not set to an instance of an object: string name = e.NewValues["name"].ToString(); when I click on edit

I still seem to be missing something..do you have any ideas?

Thanks for your replies