Excel – cannot read remote txt files

environment: Excel 2002 sp-2, windows xp,
i cannot open in Excel TXT files that are on a server, but can open in Excel TXT files that are on C drive — i can open Excel XLS files that are on server and C drive
In Word, I can open DOC and TXT files that are on server and C drive
The files are not readonly
Msg is: “myfilename.txt” cannot be accessed. The file may be read-only, or you may be trying to access a read-only location. Or, the server the document is stored on may not be responding.”