Socket sockAdmin = null;
int retryCounter = 0, threshold = 15;
			
while (retryCounter < threshold && sockAdmin == null)
{
	try
	{
		retryCounter++;
					
		// connect to the admin port (9300).
		sockAdmin = new Socket(InetAddress.getByName("localhost"), 9300);
	}
	catch (ConnectException e)//host and port combination not valid
	{
		e.printStackTrace();
				    
	        ThreadUtils.pause(2500);
	}
}

 
Process process = new ProcessBuilder("iqconnect.exe", "my login stuff").start();

ThreadUtils.pause(5000); //<-------------------------------THIS WAS NOT NECESSARY IN THE PAST

System.out.println("Verifying if IQConnect is connected to the server");
			
// verify everything is ready to send commands.
boolean bConnected = false;
			
// connect to the admin port (9300).
Socket sockAdmin = new Socket(InetAddress.getByName("localhost"), 9300);//<---------------------------CONNECTION REFUSED ERROR THROWN AT THIS LINE

BufferedReader bufreadAdmin = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(sockAdmin.getInputStream()));
BufferedWriter bufwriteAdmin = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(sockAdmin.getOutputStream()));
String strAdminLine = "";
			
// loop while we are still connected to the admin port or until we are connected
while (((strAdminLine = bufreadAdmin.readLine()) != null) && !bConnected)
{
	System.out.println(strAdminLine);

	if (strAdminLine.indexOf(",Connected,") > -1)
	{
		System.out.println("IQConnect is connected to the server.");
		bConnected = true;
	}
	else if (strAdminLine.indexOf(",Not Connected,") > -1)
	{
		System.out.println("IQConnect is Not Connected.\r\nSending connect command.");
		bufwriteAdmin.write("S,CONNECT\r\n");
		bufwriteAdmin.flush();
	}
}