Details:

I am using Outlook 2003 to connect to Exchanger Server 2003
OS: WinXP
I connect through a VPN to the exchange server. I can ping the server using
the computer name without the domain. I can connect to the server and
explore (\\exchangeservername). However, while attempting create a new
exchange email account and verify/authenticate, I get the following error
message (after a long delay/hang):

"Outlook could not log on. Check to make sure you are connected to the
network and are using the proper server and mailbox name. The connection to
the Microsoft Exchange server is unavailable. Outlook must be online or
connected to complete this action.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled Outlook several times, ran the office
2003 repair tool, verified the RPC registry entries are correct, even added
my server IP to the hosts file. Any ideas what else might be wrong???