EQ not finding minilogin server

[Astartae]

Ok, I've been using eqemu since version 4.1 and I've set up many successful minilogin servers on my computer.

I have 5.7 dr4 setup on my computer and it seems to be running just fine. I followed the guide, "Howto: Minilogin with 5_7 Dr-4." I downloaded the compiled versions of world and zone that the guide's author offered and the missing files download on that page as well. And, as I said, the programs all seem to run just fine (after I tweaked with settings and dbs a bit).

I'm on an XP Home ed with 512mb ram and 1.4ghz p4. I'm using a geoforce4 with 64mb ram.

I'm having trouble with the eqhost.txt file for EQ, I believe. For awhile I was just getting booted back to desktop when I tried to login. Now, after creating a new eqhost.txt, that looks like so (without any spaces after):

[LoginServer]
Host=localhost:5999

I am now getting an error that says it couldn't find the server (after trying for a good minute or two). At least I resolved the smitchell error by setting the file as read only.

And I have gotten as far as I have by searching the forums backwards and forwards, which showed me that I'm not the only one with this problem.

Clever of Sony to come up with this "fix" to keep people from using servers other than theirs. Now if we can only find a reliable fix around it! ;-)

Anyone have any suggestions as to what else I could try?