System.NullReferenceException: Object reference

[William Reed]

I get the following error below when I do the following code with the newest dot net connector, this error is sporatic and I dont know why it happens. Basically I connect from my development machine and the page starts working, then I put it on production and its fine. After a while this error crops up on this code....Anyone have any idea why that code below shows up, this sub routine is the first sub called that connects to mysql.

Sub GetLatestWeek()
Dim MyConn As MySqlConnection
MyConn = New MySqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("strConn").ConnectionString)

Dim strSQL As String = "SELECT MAX(week) FROM power_rankings"

Dim myCommand As New MySqlCommand(strSQL, MyConn)

Try
MyConn.Open()

Dim objReader As MySqlDataReader
objReader = myCommand.ExecuteReader()

While objReader.Read()
intLatestIssue = objReader.GetValue(0)
End While

Catch myException As Exception
lblStatus.Text = myException.ToString
Finally
MyConn.Close()
End Try
End Sub

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at MySql.Data.MySqlClient.NativeDriver.Configure(MySqlConnection connection) at MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection.Open() at _Default.LoadDL()