I have run into this situation before but when we set up a connection to another server/port we get a message in the status box for the connection – stating “Can’t connect to IP:Port – Operation already in Progress”. On a prior windows environment the firewall was blocking the port and we were able to connect after they removed the block for that port.
We are able to ping the server but not able to get the IM box to connect to that port or any other port.