Connecting To Mysql Database From .NET?

I'm having some trouble setting up a working connection to a mysql database from Visual Studio 2010.After downloading and installing the mysql-net connector, I set up a simple testing database in Xampp and experimented around a bit until I managed to read some values from the database and inserting new ones.I'm trying to access another database on a remote server and all I get is an error message: Unable to connect to any of the specified MySQL hosts.Basically, I'm only trying to execute this code:

Dim con As New MySqlConnection("Server=111.11.111.111;Uid=root;Pwd=mypwd;Database=mydb;")
con.Open()
con.Close()

(server ip looks a bit different of course)When I access my local database, it looks quite similar:

Dim con As New MySqlConnection("Server=127.0.0.1;Uid=root;Pwd=;Database=test;")
con.Open()
con.Close()

Nevertheless, I can access the remote database easily using a simple PHP script... no problems there.