I logged out of game, went to log back in, and now gets froze or something at that part and have to end process or turn cpu off to get out. I can get to char select, but not into game on any chars.
Ok, well i updated drivers as i said, updated windows (running xp pro sp2), defrag'd and cleaned registry, did 4 diff types of virus scans, defrag'd HD, and still couldn't get in. Had to reinstall EQ2, but that worked.
And if your firewall got all screwy between the time you logged out and logged in, it would cause what you described to happen and the fix you described to work.