So I get everything situated (even fixed the Vista audio tick) but when I try to log in the server times out. Is there a server "down time" or schedule or am I experiencing a problem on my end? (I can assure you it's not a firewall)

Follow up. It is definately not the server itself as a friend is logged in as I type now and it's still timing out on me. It's not even acknowledging the servers existance. It just sits on Connecting for about a minute then times out the connection. I've restarted the connection and the computer and still having a an issue connecting. Any insight would be helpful.

Do you use a software firewall (Norton? McAfee? these are the usual suspects) If so can you try disable it, and then try to connect. If yes, and disabling the firewall worked, then you need to manually add firewall rules to your firewall.

If you are not running a software firewall, could you give a little more detail as to your Internet connection type, do you have a router, or are you connecting using a college/shared ISP.

There is no choke from wall to the modem and the network isn't shared with anyone. No Router is used. I am not announcing my firewall usage but I will guarantee I'm not having a firewall issue. I'm really not sure what more info I can provide publicly other than that.