--- libempathy-gtk/empathy-account-widget-irc.c	2010-06-18 11:50:45 +0000
+++ libempathy-gtk/empathy-account-widget-irc.c	2010-07-30 09:10:13 +0000
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 #include <libempathy/empathy-debug.h>
 
 #define IRC_NETWORKS_FILENAME "irc-networks.xml"
+#define DEFAULT_IRC_NETWORK "chat.freenode.net"
 
 typedef struct {
   EmpathyAccountWidget *self;
@@ -414,7 +414,12 @@
         }
     }
 
-
+  if (network == NULL)
+  {
+	const gchar *freenodeserver = DEFAULT_IRC_NETWORK;
+	network = empathy_irc_network_manager_find_network_by_address (
+          settings->network_manager, freenodeserver);
+  }
   fill_networks_model (settings, network);
 }
 

