If you're unable to connect successfully, it may be that your connection path to the particular server your client was routed to is down, be it due to ISP problems or router failure; in this case you may be able to connect okay by forcing your client to connect to a specific server by substituting irc. out for a specific server name, e.g. eldrasia.lunarnet.org in your connect information.

Some restrictive firewalls - like those in many colleges and universities - block port 6667, the standard IRC port. You may be able to connect by specifying 4444 as the port and connecting to Eldrasia or RPGCafe.

Some particularly restrictive connection setups may block both IRC ports and others included; in this case, you can either contact your system administrator and ask for the port to be opened; in lieu of that a reasonably reliable method of bypassing the problem is to use an SSL-capable IRC client and connect through a standard SSL port. SSL links are fully encrypted and thus generally considered much 'safer' by most administrators and rarely blocked.

A handy guide to setting up SSL in mIRC is here; for Mac users we suggest Colloquy, which can enable SSL merely by ticking a box.

Contacting the admins and explaining the problem is your best bet, either through a friend who can connect to the network or else the email at the bottom of this page.