I'm can't see how it would, but will a server alias affect a connection being made with the SQLOLEDB.1 provider?
Edit:
So I just found some other info which might hint at my issue. In a connection string, if the provider is SQLOLEDB.1 and the data source is just specified as a server name(but not an FQDN, assuming you even can), will the default network library used be named pipes?
Thank you