K...I'm pretty much begging now.

[Flinch]

Okay...I really REALLY need some help here.
I was trying to host a server for myself. I use XP and EQEmu 3.11
but I kept getting Invalid Version when I would log on using MiniLogon, World, and Boot5 even with no errors in those scripts themselves.
So for the time being, I gave up on that idea and tried logging onto the public servers again...and after a bit of working (ie doing the fix to take me back to older patch) I could finally log onto it and successfully create a character.
Earlier, Id been either locking up on the name approval screen or being disconnected after 30 seconds flat every single time.
So I actually logged onto a server with a character, but I can't stay on long enough to do anything because as soon as I get on, I start losing my connection.
I have tried the whole Datarate.txt thing and it seems to do nothing at all. My ISP is not the problem.
I would RATHER host myself, but I got no help in fixing that...and my instinct tells me that the problem I was having before with Minilogon is somehow related to the one I'm having staying connected, but the solution eludes me.
Right now, I'd be happy getting patchme to work. Please help me out here.
Any thoughts on how to stabilize my connection when logged onto a public server using patchme and Windows XP?