MS SQL 2K thinks user is both there and NOT there... what gives???

From: Alex (alex_at_totallynerd.com)
Date: 01/29/04 

Date: 29 Jan 2004 09:03:23 -0800

Hi all,

I've restored a database, and MS SQL is giving me conflicting messages
on whether my main login user is there or not.

My main user - padmin - on the old DB was setup as owner, and padmin
is listed under Logins. But when I select my database > Users then
select padmin and check db_owner and OK, I get this message:
Error 15410: User or roll 'padmin' does not exist in this database.

Uhh, it's there, I'm looking at it. When I click on Permissions
button in the same window, I get this message:

Error 15001: Object '(null)' does not exist or is not a valid object
for this operation.

So... I goto Security > Logins and select padmin (the user SQL says
doesn't exist) and manually permit it to have access and db_owner role
of my database. I get this error:

Error 21002: [SQL-DMO] User 'padmin' already exists.

When I try to delete padmin, I get this error:

Error 15174: Login 'padmin' owns one or more database(s). Change the
owner of the following database(s) before dropping login... and it
lists my database.

So, from within my database, padmin doesn't exist and isn't the owner,
but to MS SQL 2000 it does exist and IS the owner.

What gives??? How can I get past this? I have programs and many ODBC
connections that use padmin, so I can't simply create another user and
use this. I'm guessing this is nothing more then a bug in MS SQL, but
I have no idea how to resolve it.

Thanks for any ides, solutions, or suggestions... and take care,

Alex.