Using old installation
 

I too am having trouble logging into the world because of the new patch, but if i was to install the game (without patching) and make a server, would that work?

depends how old your cd versions are, but its doubtful, 5.7 is based on the april 28 eqgame.exe i believe, or there around not really sure the exact date thats just the date on my files, so installing without any patches might be to old to run on the servers.