Here is a problem that has bedeviled my co-worker and I at work.
There is an ODBC connection from Oracle 10g to Access 2003. The TNS has several services set that bring tables into in Access. Problem is when the table is opened in Access, fields that are integer in Ora 10g (long, no decimals) are text in MS Access.
One Oracle database source does feed data thru the ODBC correctly. The only difference is in the Oracle .ora file configuration. The service name in this file specifies the parameter differently. There are several configs in this .ora file for different Ora 10g databases.
I will look this much more closely tomorrow at work, but any preliminary responses are welcomed. I will also take a closer look at the configs if this question is vague, as I suspect it is.