Window Server 2008 custom database

I have installed Open Fire 3.7.1 on Windows Server 2008. I’ve created a custom database in SQL Server 2008 R2. When I attempt to connect with Spark I get “Can’t connect to server: invalid name or server not reachable”. My firewall is OFF, I can ping the server name, the installed SQL server name (no instance). I am trying this ON the server - it is an internal network server and am trying to connect with Spark on the server. the same custom database works on my Windows 7 box with SQL Server 2008 R2 - just changed the connection string to reflect the server name. No error is written to the error.log file. SQL Server is configured for remote connections, TCP/IP is enabled, it is using Port 1433 (included in the connection string).

Any ideas on what I can look at or possible reasons for error?