Error when configuring session state server

We are trying to setup session state server. When we do, we get the following error:

Message: System.Net.Sockets.SocketException (0x80004005): A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond 217.18.207.181:80 at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.DoConnect(EndPoint endPointSnapshot, SocketAddress socketAddress) at System.Net.ServicePoint.ConnectSocketInternal(Boolean connectFailure, Socket s4, Socket s6, Socket& socket, IPAddress& address, ConnectSocketState state, IAsyncResult asyncResult, Int32 timeout, Exception& exception)

Note the IP address in the error message is the IP of the load balancer, but when we do a trace between the servers it does not go via the load balancer.

We have also tried using AppFabric but then we get the following error:

Message: System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null. Parameter name: lockHandle at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCache.Unlock(String key, DataCacheLockHandle lockHandle, TimeSpan timeout) at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheSessionStoreProvider.ReleaseItemExclusive(HttpContext context, String id, Object lockId) at System.Web.SessionState.SessionStateModule.OnReleaseState(Object source, EventArgs eventArgs) at System.Web.HttpApplication.SyncEventExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)

Any help would be much appreciated.