WCF / ASMX :: Web Service, Wsdl Error

I have had some web services running for some time now without any problems. Recently I tried to update the webservices in the project they run from but keep getting the error:
Metadata contains a reference that cannot be resolved: 'http://server/ErrorEmails.asmx?wsdl'

When I tried adding the web reference to the project from scratch I get he following error: 'Unable to download the following files from http://server/ErrorEmails.asmx?wsdl'

Now I can see what the problem is: the 'server' part of the url is pointing to the
internal server name instead of the actual url. I have not changed anything in the web services themselves or the projects which include them. If I copy the exact same webservice to a different folder on the server it can connect with no problem. This makes me believe its an issue with the directory on the server, however the server administrators say that this is not the case.

How has this error come up all of a sudden and what is the solution? .. I have read various forums on creating proxy classes, adding code to web config file etc but don't see why this should be done when it worked fine to start with and still works fine in a separate directory on the server!