Forums mIRC Help I CANT CONNECT TO #'s OTHER PEOPLE CAN!

ok, i'm sorry if i'm posting this again, but i did the search and couldnt find anything ):
well, ok heres my horrible problem:
i had irc, it was all good and shinny, and i could log to #channels and stuff, but i had to uninstall it, when i install it back, i couldnt get to the channels i used to, THERE ARE NOT THERE! besides, i created a channel, and my friends say they can enter the channel i created but i cant! i do, but i'm all alone, ex: myine says #something [1] and theirs says #something [2] and it works for all of them, but not for me ):
I'm sorry again if I'm repeating, but it really sucks ):

thank you

I'm going to presume that you have some other method of communicating with these other people, example Yahoo or MSN Messenger. Just how, doesn't matter.

Next time you join your channel and it only shows 1, contact one of your friends and have them join the channel. If their display shows 2 (or more), then get them to type //echo -a $server
NOTE: Both // are required.
While they do this, you do the same. I'd be willing to bet that the information returned to your friend does not match what is returned to you. If this is the case, then the simple answer is for you to use the /server command and specify the server that your friend is using.

It's not unheard of for a network to have multiple servers, and if the servers aren't communicating with each other, then what you've encountered is not only possible, but probable.

It may be that the number he's showing in brackets is the number of people in the channel... not sure.

That's what I'm thinking is the case, since he's reporting a number of 1 when he's the only one showing in the channel, and yet others are reporting 2, even though he's not showing at their end.

I'm stongly suspecting that this is simply a matter of a netsplit between servers on that network, or they've got two different networks being used and not realizing it.

Id also ask why he had to reinstall, maybe a virus/trojan that effected mirc, and he hasnt truely got rid of it. ?

I'd go a little further and hazard a guess it's not even the same network...

You may just want to check

is the same for both yourself and your friend(s)!