Check your PHP info page <?php phpinfo(); ?> and make sure allow_url_fopen is On and safe_mode is Off. The permissions are 777 for the /admin/temp, /text_content, and /includes directories. Once connect.php is set, the /includes directory can be set to 755 permission. Sometimes NAT, firewall, intranet may be an issue, so try to mini index a site not on the same server. There is also a script in
this thread that should make a simple list of links.