Problems with connectivity using C# in VS2012 Pro and SQL 2K

Question

I have a new Windows 7 machine. About a week ago I installed both VS2012 and SQL 2000.  It was working fine until my computer lost power and shut down abruptly.  Since then I cannot create a working connection between C# and SQL 2000.  I am using SQLConnection to accomplish this.

I am, however, able to connect to SQL 2000 using VB6.  So the issue seems to be with .NET as I also tried to create a simple connection program using C# Express Edition and it also will not work.

I have been searching on the net for several days and have not found a post anywhere that seems to deal specifically with this issue. The error starts off as follows:

"Connection Timeout Expired. The timeout period elapsed during the post-login phase.  The connection could have timed out while waiting for server to complete the login process and respons; Or it could have timed out while attempting to create multiple active connections...."

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Scott