[SLUG] IRC Connection problems

[Al Girling]

Hi,

Last week I thought I'd try to join in with the IRC meet for course I'm doing.  
They use irc.debian.org and #BLT.  However when I try to connect all I get is 
this response.

--- Looking up irc.debian.org..
--- Connecting to calvino.freenode.net (213.92.8.4) port 6667..
--- Connected. Now logging in..
--- AUTH :*** Looking up your hostname...
--- AUTH :*** Checking ident
--- AUTH :*** Couldn't look up your hostname
--- AUTH :*** No identd (auth) response
--- Closing Link: al21 (Bad user info)
--- Disconnected (Remote host closed socket).

I've tried to connect to a variety of servers, some I can connect to, others 
not.  Those servers I'm unable to connect too all respond with the;

--- AUTH :*** No identd (auth) response
--- Closing Link: al21 (Bad user info)

I've spent a lot of time searching of the net.  Reading FAQ's etc.  I found a 
nice piece of art work at http://irc.debian.org  but nothing relating to 
connection problems, except one item from someone with very similar problems.  

--- AUTH :*** No identd (auth) response
--- dle1 already in use. Retrying with ..
--- Closing Link:  (Connection Timed Out)
--- Disconnected (Remote host closed socket).

Which turned out to be a conflict of usernames.  I've tried altering username 
etc. without success, but it's the; 
--- No identd (auth) response
--- Closing Link: al21 (Bad user info)
 which makes me think it's because of some authentication problem.

Can anyone give me some ideas please.  Am I trying to connect using a name 
someone has previously been banned with?  (Although I should have connected 
when I tried a different name).  Is it an authentication problem?  If so how 
is it resolved?  I've posted this on the BLT course list with few replies, so 
I thought I'd try here.

I'm tempted to try another IRC client.  But that seems too much like giving 
up!

Any ideas gratefully received!

Al