I had a similar problem and traced it to a WMI issue.

Please review this link.  http://windowsxp.mvps.org/repairwmi.htm 

I downloaded the WMI Diagnois Utility and found the problem.  I hope that it solves your problem.

I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!

The method My.Computer.Name works fine in a basic test windows app but my normal app crashes. I can call the method in the line prior to set connections and it fires ok.

MsgBox(My.Computer.Name) work

ConnectionManager.SetConnections() crash

I am in and out and dont have much time so maybe tonite i can figure this out.

Just create a test program and call the above method.  You can also get to it like this:

(or something along those lines )

That is strange it is my on my XP laptop and has both vs 05 and 08 installed i cant remember the last time i compiled the app on this machine but it has compiled and ran before. If I t now have time i will look into this a bit more but for right now i can use remote desktop.

We actually test on the OS within certain objects.   In this example, the GradientForm header is just referencing standard .NET classes to determine if the OS is Vista.  This is the class that it would be calling:

This contains the full name of the OS along with some other things.  This is probably an indication that your .NET installation on this client is not up to par or you are missing some standard .NET assemblies.

I am setting up my laptop as I will be out of town the rest of the week. I get a provider failer when i try to run the application a the Set Connections line in appmain. I deleted the commection info in the connection data folder but that didnt help ...Any ideas?

System.Management.ManagementException was unhandled
  Message="Provider failure "
  Source="System.Management"
  StackTrace:
       at System.Management.ManagementException.ThrowWithExtendedInfo(ManagementStatus errorCode)    at System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection.ManagementObjectEnumerator.MoveNext()    at System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection.get_Count()    at Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices.ComputerInfo.get_OSManagementBaseObject()    at Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices.ComputerInfo.get_OSFullName()    at MicroFour.StrataFrame.UI.Windows.Forms.GradientFormHeader..ctor()    at MicroFour.StrataFrame.UI.Windows.Forms.GradientFormHeader..ctor(IContainer Container)    at MicroFour.StrataFrame.UI.Windows.Forms.WizardControl.InitializeComponent()    at MicroFour.StrataFrame.UI.Windows.Forms.WizardControl..ctor()    at MicroFour.StrataFrame.Data.ConnectionWizard.InitializeComponent()    at MicroFour.StrataFrame.Data.ConnectionWizard..ctor(RequiredDataSourceCollection RequiredItems, Int32 ApplicationPK, Boolean PersistData)    at MicroFour.StrataFrame.Data.ConnectionWizard..ctor(RequiredDataSourceCollection RequiredItems, Int32 ApplicationPK)    at MicroFour.StrataFrame.Data.ConnectionManager.ShowConnectionWizard(Int32 ApplicationPK)    at MicroFour.StrataFrame.Data.ConnectionManager.ShowConnectionWizard()    at MicroFour.StrataFrame.Data.ConnectionManager.SetConnections()    at ActionLabor.Payroll.Base.AppMain.SetDataSources() in C:\Action Labor Payroll\Payroll\AppMain.vb:line 86    at MicroFour.StrataFrame.Application.StrataFrameApplication.Raise_SetDataSources()    at MicroFour.StrataFrame.Application.StrataFrameApplication.RunApplication()    at ActionLabor.Payroll.Base.AppMain.Main() in C:\Action Labor Payroll\Payroll\AppMain.vb:line 34
  InnerException: