SSMS Intermittent error - "Error message is: SqlDateTime overflow"

Question

SQL 2008R2(10.50.6000) Standard Edition, 64 Bit on Windows 2008R2 SP1 Enterprise.
SSMS 10.50.4033
From time-to-time (several times per week) I receive the following error when running a query from SSMS.
"An error occurred while executing batch. Error message is: SqlDateTime overflow. Must be between 1/1/1753 12:00:00 AM and 12/31/9999 11:59:59 PM."
This happens on small single statement queries, large complex admin queries, ad hoc queries, queries that I have source controlled and tested/run many times.  I have exhaustively checked the target tables and don't find any dates out of range.
Typically, I just rerun the query and it runs fine.
Another error that occurs less often is
"An error occurred while executing batch. Error message is: Non-negative number required.
Parameter name: count"
This is particularly confusing since I don't have a parameter named "count" which is an illegal T-SQL identifier anyway.
The references to "SqlDateTime"  and "count" lead me to believe this is an SSMS coding error.
Ray

Answer 1

Unfortunately, without a scenario to repro the issue, it is impossible investigate. And overall, intermittent errors are horrendeously difficult to troubleshoot.
What I would recommend is that you install SSMS 2012 SP2. You can download it for free here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43351
You can run SSMS2012 against SQL 2008 R2 without problem, and personally I find it nicer to work with.
Not that I am sure that it will resolve the issue.
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, [email protected]