What database version format are you using? What version of DAO are you using?
Also, if you're working strictly with strings, you should use the specific versions of Left$(), Mid$(), Right$(), Chr$(), ChrW$(), UCase$(), LCase$(), LTrim$(), RTrim$(), Trim$(), Space$(), String$(), Format$(), Hex$(), Oct$(), and Str$().
Otherwise, VB uses the Variant version, which is much slower.