Order by Problem in Select - VB -> Q+E ODBC -> INFORMIX 6.0

Hi, The problem we are facing is very simple, select A, B from Table1 order by A if A is defined as a character column in the table the select statement gives a error "Invalid Order by Column" The same works when it is made pass through and thru ISQL. The obvious solutions have been tried like (Column number, Correlational name, index). Any help in this problem will be appreciated. TIA Venki