Question on Connecting to Microsoft SQL Server from PHP

All: I can't seem to connect to a SQL Server database with PHP. I have read the php.net documentation and so many other forums on the Internet that my eyes were literally blood shot. Today I thought I would try this route. I have PHP and Apache installed on my local machine. They work fine as I created another application with them (and MySQL) that worked as expected/designed. I want to connect to MS SQL Server 2000 that rests on another machine here at work. I can reach the tables and do whatever I want with them from my machine through SQL Query Analyzer. (The other machine runs a Windows Server. So I am trying to connect from one Windows box to another Windows box.) So I know that I can connect to the tables (and the machine that they rest on) from my machine. It is just that I get the following error when I load my PHP page: "Warning: mssql_connect() [[ http://localhost/development_files/ordertrackno/where_is_it.php/function.mssql-connect ]function.mssql-connect]: Unable to connect to server: . . . " In my PHP page I have the following: $sql = mssql_connect ("xx.xx.xx.xx:xxxx", "xx", "xxxxxx"); $conn=mssql_select_db("xx", $sql); etc I have tried replacing the semicolon with a comma as some have said. I get the same error. I have tried replacing the quotation marks with an apostrophe and I get the same error. I have the Client tools installed on my machine. (I should mention that they are not installed on the Apache on my machine as I could not get them to install from the SQL Server disk to that location--only to the hardrive.). Again, they connect to the database. I can query the database from my machine. I have the latest ntwdblib.dllinstalled in the php, php\extension, apache\bin, and system 32 directories. What else . . . I have tried setting the msssql.secure_connection to both off and on and I still get the same error. I have ensured that TCP/IP and Named Pipes are enabled in the SQL Configuration tool. I have asked the network guy to help out but no luck there. Again, I am at a loss and need to get this up and running. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. Tommy