I am trying to connect to my MSSQL server 2008 web instance and im failing horribly... i get the error 26 and before you jump on me i have done these

• Check the spelling of the SQL Server instance name that is specified in the connection string.
• Use the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration tool to enable SQL Server to accept remote connections over the TCP or named pipes protocols. For more information about the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration Tool, see Surface Area Configuration for Services and Connections.
• Make sure that you have configured the firewall on the server instance of SQL Server to open ports for SQL Server and the SQL Server Browser port (UDP 1434).
• Make sure that the SQL Server Browser service is started on the server.

in addition to theese i have disabled the firewall completely and tried other ports nothing works the same credentials work on the server but not on the client.

this is the exact error message

A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified) (.Net SqlClient Data Provider)

Can anybody help?