[SWFObject] Getting connection errors with my flash chat program

[Lifestyle Clubhouse administrator]

I can't get SWFObject to work with my flash-based chat program. Here's 
the original working code:

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" 
codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" 
width="730" height="515" id="ray_chat" align="middle">
<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" />
<param name="movie" value="<?=$ray_dir?>ray_chat_loader.swf" />
<param name="quality" value="high" />
<param name="wmode" value="transparent" />
<param name="base" 
value="http://<?=$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'])?>/" 
/>
<param name="FlashVars" 
value="ID=<?=$ID?>&NickName=<?=$NickName?>&url=<?=$ray_xml?>&lang_url=<?=$ray_lang?>" 
/>
<embed
        src="<?=$ray_dir?>ray_chat_loader.swf"
        id="ray_chat"
        quality="high"
        wmode="transparent"
        bgcolor="#ffffff"
        width="730" height="515"
        name="ray_chat"
        align="middle"
        allowScriptAccess="always"
        
base="http://<?=$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'])?>/"
        
FlashVars="ID=<?=$ID?>&NickName=<?=$NickName?>&url=<?=$ray_xml?>&lang_url=<?=$ray_lang?>"
        pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" />
</object>


And here's the new code with SWFObject:

        <script type="text/javascript">
          var so = new SWFObject("<?=$ray_dir?>ray_chat_loader.swf", 
"ray_chat", "730", "515", "8", "#ffffff");
          so.addVariable("allowScriptAccess", "always");
          so.addVariable("movie", "<?=$ray_dir?>ray_chat_loader.swf");
          so.addVariable("quality", "high");
          so.addVariable("wmode", "transparent");
          so.addVariable("base", 
"http://<?=$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'])?>/");
         so.addVariable("FlashVars", 
"ID=<?=$ID?>&NickName=<?=$NickName?>&url=<?=$ray_xml?>&lang_url=<?=$ray_lang?>"); 

          so.write("flashcontent");
        </script>

The script loads up, but I get a connection error with my chat server. 
I've experimented with adding "getQueryParamValue" to the "base" and 
"FlashVars" variables, but that didn't work.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

John