Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars multiplayer connection

hi. i purchased through steam Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars. I purchased one game for myself and one game for a friend because i wanted to play online with my friend. We both installed the game and made an account, logged in, joined a custom game that i made. we are each ready to play. I click PLAY. i get an error message "Connection in progress, or problem detected"  So i try to let him host. Same message. He is able to play with other people but i am not. SO the problem is on my end.  I have disabled windows firewall, disabled avg antivirus, disabled windows UAC, bypassed my router, have tried everything that i know of and still can not play online which is the reason that i purchased the game. I am not the only one having this issue as i have talked to other gamers in the game lobby and they were not able to help.