I'm have my site set up through a hosting compnay. I have checked to make sure that the server allows remote connections, which it does. I have gone through the web.config file and put a <clear/> tag in to the connection strings  section and i also put in a <remove name="DBConnection"/> tag in and i'm still getting this error.

Here is the Config file

<configuration>

  <appSettings />   
  <connectionStrings>
    <clear/>
    <remove name="LocalSqlServer"/>
    <remove name="DBConnection"/>
    <add name="DBConnection"
         connectionString="serverserverip;uid=uid;pwd=pwd;Trusted_Connection=no;database=dbname;"
         providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
  </connectionStrings>  
    <system.web>
        <!--
            Set compilation debug="true" to insert debugging
            symbols into the compiled page. Because this
            affects performance, set this value to true only
            during development.
        -->
        <compilation debug="true" />

        <!--
            The <authentication> section enables configuration
            of the security authentication mode used by
            ASP.NET to identify an incoming user.
        -->
        <authentication mode="Windows" />
        <!--
            The <customErrors> section enables configuration
            of what to do if/when an unhandled error occurs
            during the execution of a request. Specifically,
            it enables developers to configure html error pages
            to be displayed in place of a error stack trace.
        -->
      <customErrors mode="Off" ></customErrors>
      <membership>
        <providers>
          <remove name="AspNetSqlMembershipProvider"/>
          <add name="AspNetSqlMembershipProvider"
               type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
               connectionStringName="DBConnection"
               enablePasswordRetrieval="false"
               enablePasswordReset="true"
               requiresQuestionAndAnswer="true"
               applicationName="/"
               requiresUniqueEmail="false"
               passwordFormat="Hashed"
               maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="5"
               minRequiredPasswordLength="7"
               minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="1"
               passwordAttemptWindow="10"
               passwordStrengthRegularExpression="" />
        </providers>
      </membership>
      <profile>
        <providers>
          <remove name="AspNetSqlProfileProvider"/>
          <add name="AspNetSqlProfileProvider"
               connectionStringName="DBConnection"
               applicationName="/"
               type="System.Web.Profile.SqlProfileProvider, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" />
        </providers>
      </profile>
      <roleManager>
        <providers>
          <remove name="AspNetSqlRoleProvider"/>
          <add name="AspNetSqlRoleProvider"
               connectionStringName="DBConnection"
               applicationName="/"
               type="System.Web.Security.SqlRoleProvider, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" />         
        </providers>
      </roleManager>
    </system.web>
    <system.net>
      <mailSettings>
        <smtp from="email">
          <network host="email" password="pwd" userName="uid" />
        </smtp>
      </mailSettings>
    </system.net>
</configuration>

any information to try to solve this would be great.

You mention instance name which means your connection string should be as follows

<add name="DBConnection"
         connectionString="serverserverip\InstanceName;uid=uid;pwd=pwd;Trusted_Connection=no;database=dbname;"
         providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

 Regards

Liam 

How do I know what the instance would be for my db.

You can check services (start > run > services.msc) look for SQL Server (INSTANCE NAME)  the default for 2005 express is "SQL Server (SQLEXPRESS)"

Also you could create a datasource and click the dropdown list which should list it.

Regards

Liam 

I looked through the settings for the hosting companys Sql server and under the instance section thre was noting listed. So, I don't think there is a instance specified for there server.

JWTech:

<add name="DBConnection"
         connectionString="serverserverip;uid=uid;pwd=pwd;Trusted_Connection=no;database=dbname;"
         providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

Hi JWTech,

In my opinion, it is the incorrect connection string causes the issue. Where is the “Server” keyword in the connection string? For example, please refer to the following connection string.

  <add name=" DBConnection" connectionString=" Server=myServerAddress;Database=myDataBase;User ID=myUsername;Password=myPassword;Trusted_Connection=False;"   providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

For more sample SQL Server connection strings, please refer to the following link:

http://www.connectionstrings.com