Connection problem 90% of the time

Hello,
When trying to connect to a specific site using Socks proxy (4 or 5), most of the time it will connect to the site & log in, but fail to get a directory listing. Instead it stalls with the following:

227 Entering Passive Mode (*****,243,7,191).
Opening data connection IP: ****** PORT: 1983.
LIST
125 File status okay; about to open data connection.
0 bytes received successfully. (0 B/s) (00:00:01).

But one time in ten, it works perfectly, and I can ftp files as usual.
It's very frustrating :oops:, that in order to open a session, I have this trial and error until I get a working session each time.
I am behind a firewall, but there is no blocking going on (or logged messages). Besides, sometimes it works fine!
I am not using SSL..
Maybe it is my ISP's ftp server? But cuteftp accesses it 100% of the time using socks proxy.
Have just tried the latest dev (was previously on 1.0973)..still the same problem.
I would be interested to see if anyone else has this problem, or if there is a fix
cheers
bucho


+- System -----------------------------

Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Service Pack 3 (Build 2195)

CPU Speed : 730 MHz
Total Memory : 260332 KB
Free Memory : 33440 KB

+- SmartFTP ---------------------------

Version : 1.0.974.9
Time Stamp : 2003-03-04 04:23:55

+- Application DLL --------------------

Controls.dll : 1.6.974.9
FTPAPI.dll : 2.0.974.9
Language.dll : 1.0.974.9
ResEng.dll : 1.3.974.9

+- System DLL -------------------------

shell32.dll : 5.00.3502.6144
shlwapi.dll : 6.00.2800.1106
comctl32.dll : 5.81
riched20.dll : 5.30.23.1209
schannel.dll : 5.00.2195.5284

+- Internet Explorer ------------------

Version : 6.0.2800.1106

+- Winsock ----------------------------

Winsock : 2.2