outlook clients can't connect to new exchange 2013

We've just migrated from sbs2008 to server 2012 standard and exchange 2013. Exchange 2013 is up and running. OWA access is up. Activesync is working as well, as smartphones are connecting successfully. The problem still left is outlook clients. Curiously enough, mac outlook clients seamlessly made the switch and are sending/receiving. Outlook on windows however is another story. I did read that outlook and exchange 2013 now require an outside ssl cert, no more self signed. We had an external cert already, and I attempted to export/import it and continue to use it. Outlook complains that the server names don't match, so I've submitted a re-key request. I understand that could be part of the dificulty. When I try to connect an outlook client, autodiscover responds and tells me of the certificate issues, but I accept anyways. After entering the username/password, "finding server settings" reports as successful, but then "log on to server", I receive the error "The action cannot be completed. The connection to microsoft exchange is unavailable. Outlook must be online or connected to complete this action." This is repeatable from multiple pc's, outlook 2007, 2010, 2013. So my question, is this solely related to the SSL certificate issue, if at all? How do I discover my connection settings, so as to manually configure outlook, to make sure autodiscover isn't the problem? What is different about the way mac outlook connects that allows it to work so easily?