ActiveSync Connection Problems Continue

I finally decided to post to the ActiveSync newsgroup about my ActiveSync issues (here). Here's a copy of the post:

My laptop will not connect to any of my WM 5.0 devices (including the i-mate KJAM, the Cingular 2125, and the T-MOBILE SDA). Though I've experienced this problem in the past, I've been able to uinstall and reinstall ActiveSync 4.2 and restart my computer to solve the problem.
I've been blogging about my problematic encounters with ActiveSync for a while now but have never sought the expertise of this newsgroup. I'll provide a quick summary of my ActiveSync issues here. You can visit my blog for more details: http://csharponphone.blogspot.com/2006/05/activesync-41-sit-spin.html

Basically, I plug-in my WM 5.0 device, the little networking animation starts up in the taskbar (and says acquiring network address, etc.). This icon dissapears and then the ActiveSync icon in the taskbar turns green and starts to spin. This continues until a timeout is reached at which point I'm given a choice of visiting Microsoft's troubleshooter webpage (it then forwards me on to the "If ActiveSync Cannot Receive Data Through Port 990" page). I've tried following all of the previous advice posted here and on the web, but to no avail. My laptop is running Windows Firewall and McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0.0.

Any help from MVPs, Microsoft employees, or anyone with a clue into what might be happening would be much appreciated.

NETSTAT RETURNS:
Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 127.0.0.1:1150 127.0.0.1:1151 ESTABLISHED
TCP 127.0.0.1:1151 127.0.0.1:1150 ESTABLISHED
TCP 192.168.2.76:1038 64.233.167.125:5222 ESTABLISHED

IP-CONFIG RETURNS:
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 16:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Windows Mobile-based Device #14
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 80-00-60-0F-E8-00
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 169.254.2.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 169.254.2.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, July 02, 2006 1:53:41 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, August 01, 2006 1:53:41 PM

Update: 07/04/2006 11AM: Here's my follow-up to the post above:

I'm ashamed to admit this, but it never occurred to me to check my
process list to see if there was any networking software running on my
computers that I did not know about. Imagine my surprise when I saw
blackd.exe (part of the BlackICE firewall package). As soon as I
noticed this, I figured this might be the root of my problem. It seems
the company that I work for includes a custom install of the BlackICE
installation with their VPN software. I force closed the process in
Task Manager, plugged in my WM 5.0 device and, what do you know,
ActiveSync turns green immediately and says connected.

I probably would have thought of this earlier on, but ActiveSync would
occassionally work--it wasn't a consistent problem. This maybe more an
issue with BlackICE however.
Unfortunately, the install of BlackICE that I have does not include a
frontend, so I must manually edit their configuration file to open the
ActiveSync related ports (despite warnings in the file itself against
it).

So, in the end, it appears my frustration was misdirected at Microsoft.
It really should have been at my IT department for not disclosing that
BlackICE was packaged with our VPN.

Hopefully now my ActiveSync problems are solved.