gaim and downloader for x

[jb]

I've been having problems with GAIM. It connects fine but when I IM 
someone it locks. Everything else like browsers and such work fine. I've 
upgraded and forced downgrades but the same conditions exist. I'm also 
having a similar problem with the downloader. I can start a download but 
the window locks and it still downloads but I can't stop, close or see 
progress of the download. I can see that it is still downloading by 
viewing the kppp stats. Both Gaim and the downloader worked in the past 
so I think maybe it has something to do with my firewall? I'm using RH9 
with the latest Kernel. Has anyone seen a problem like this before or is 
there anything else I can check or do to fix it? Any Ideas or things I 
can check would be appreciated, thanks.
John