Intermittent 5-7 second MySQL connect delay [Windows XP; VB.Net Web App, MySQL 5.5, ODBC Connector 5.1.5win32]

I've searched for a solution for a few hours now, with no luck, don't see
this problem listed in the ODBC bug list or amongst the changes identified
for ODBC 5.1.6. Others have posted the issue in various forums, but none
offered a solution.

 

Environment:

-          Windows XP based [x86] VB.Net Web App, w/IIS web server & MySQL
all on the same machine (localhost loopback)

-          MySQL 5.5 using ODBC Connecter 5.1.5

 

All Db connections and transactions very quick for the last 10 months, but
something's changed.

 

Using timers placed throughout the code, I narrowed the problem to the
following ODBC Connect statement between timers T1 and T2:

 

T1 = DateTime.Now

MyConnection.Open

T2 = Date.Time.Now

 

There is a 4.5 to 7 second delay (T2-T1) that occurs every 3rd to 5th time
this statement is executed.  I removed and re-installed the ODBC software
with no improvement.

 

Please let me know if there are further debug steps I can take, or if there
is a fix.

 

Owen