Got Messenger Service Problems?

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://messenger.jonathankay.com/">http://messenger.jonathankay.com/</a><br /><br />When you have problems logging onto Messenger, you can select Help|Service Status in your desktop clients and go the <a href="http://messenger.msn.com/Status.aspx">MSN Messenger Service Status</a> page and you are <i>supposed</i> to get the status of the service to see if you are having a problem or if it is their servers.<br /><br />Well, that is the theory. The service had problems late Tuesday yet the service status page gleeflully said "All systems are stable and running" all day long. :evil: Instead, you should bookmark Jonathan Kay's Messenger Resources page. In addition to lots of detailed info about Messenger, he will keep you up to date on the actual status of the servers. :way to go: Jonathan is a fellow <a href="http://mvp.support.microsoft.com">Microsoft MVP</a> that specializes in supporting Messenger. I've now bookmarked his page on both my PC and Pocket PC.

[JustinGTP]

I couldnt log into messenger on my PPC the last few days and I have the update...

I just tried now and it worked, Im going to bookmark that site too! Good job Johnathon!

-Justin.

[Anthony Caruana]

Grrr...and I thought it was just me! I did notice that I was running an old version of Messenger as I'd forgotten to apply one of the updates they said I had to have sunce I rebuilt my PC so i just put it down to that.

Still, nice to have MS provide a status page. Too bad it wasn't right. I wonder how many others lost time like I did thinking it was a local problem.

[jbctech]

I haven't had any messenger problems today...I know I've been using it for the past 5 hours, and upon visiting HIS site, it says:

Messenger Service is not operational.

Hmmm...

[brntcrsp]

I have the most bizarre problem when it comes to messenger. I can sign in with a secondary passport, but my primary fails every single time. It's freakishly annoying! I haven't been able to sign in with my primary account on my Pocket PC since I applied the Mircosoft update for the Pocket PC client.

Has anyone else had this problem besides me?

[Shadowcat]

I had problems earlier tonight too. I don't remember exactly but probably around 9 to 11 pm Eastern Time (GMT -5:00). I eventually restarted my computer and soon afterwards it started working again.

[dean_shan]

I had an outage too. So I just talked to friends on AIM.

PS I do not use the offical AOL messenger app. I use Trillian (http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/). With it you can connect to multiple chat clients in one streamline, slick interface. Well worth the $30

[Ed Hansberry]

I had problems earlier tonight too. I don't remember exactly but probably around 9 to 11 pm Eastern Time (GMT -5:00). I eventually restarted my computer and soon afterwards it started working again.
That is what is so frustrating. It had nothing to do with your PC. If MS isn't going to update that page, just delete it. No info is better than wrong info.

[cyclwestks]

Heck, one computer on my home network could sign in, but the other one couldn't. Surely nobody else puts up with arguing kids because one computer isn't working. I went the whole gammet; checked service status, uninstalled, re-installed, restarted - then MS must have got things going again, because after all that it worked. Noticed the same thing on my PPC after doing the update, haven't tried it this morning.

[Janak Parekh]

There was a lot of sporadic behavior. I for one didn't have many problems, but a number of my friends did. It would not be unusual to see one machine working and another one not working.

However, I've never seen Microsoft's Messenger status site with any useful info. :evil:

--janak

[Dave Beauvais]

However, I've never seen Microsoft's Messenger status site with any useful info. :evil:
That's because if the page showed the true status of the .NET service, it would appear to be unstable and unreliable. Can't have that, can we, eh, Microsoft? :roll:

[Jonathon Watkins]

So it's not just my PC then - good.

So MS arn't showing us usefull info - bad.

Cheers Jonathan - but should'nt MS be doing this themselves?

[threestrong]

i can not sign in the MSN messenger in Ipaq 5450. It say the messenger service is not compatible with the version of the program. have someone can help me about that?

[Dave Beauvais]

i can not sign in the MSN messenger in Ipaq 5450. It say the messenger service is not compatible with the version of the program. have someone can help me about that?
Several months ago, changes were made to the MSN Messenger service that made it incompatible with some older Messenger clients, including the one that shipped with Pocket PCs at the time. Microsoft made a downloadable upgrade available to address this, which you can find here (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/downloads/msnmessenger/default.mspx).

[clarkth]

Dave,

Thanks for the link.

[threestrong]

i try to update the new version and login agian but it still say the same thing.

[Dave Beauvais]

Did you do a soft reset after installing the update? I think the installer prompts you to do that, but if you don't, the new files may not be active.

[clarkth]

I had to uninstall first, then reinstall. However, now I can't connect to MSN Messenger on my home LAN when using a Linksys wireless CF card (802.11g) in the sleeve for my iPaq 3835. (I'm not sure that it ever worked, I used dial up before and got the CF card for Christmas). I get the message 'Unable to connect to the proxy server. Check your proxy server settings.' I have tried the work and internet settings, but I don't have a proxy server set up on my home LAN.

I can use IE, AOL IM, and ping remote sites, but I can't connect to MSN Messenger. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Darius Wey]

Do you have any firewalls restricting access?

[ctmagnus]

afaik firewalls shouldn't matter as long as the user can sync. For a very long time I was unable to log on to Messenger (among other things) from this computer but was able to do so from my Pocket PC when cradled to this computer. So as long as the device is able to connect via ActiveSync (ie, the firewall permites it), then Messenger on the Pocket PC will work if there are no other problems.

[Darius Wey]

afaik firewalls shouldn't matter as long as the user can sync. For a very long time I was unable to log on to Messenger (among other things) from this computer but was able to do so from my Pocket PC when cradled to this computer. So as long as the device is able to connect via ActiveSync (ie, the firewall permites it), then Messenger on the Pocket PC will work if there are no other problems.

Yes. In those circumstances, the firewall is not blocking the port. However, from what I've read (perhaps I've misinterpreted it), I don't think clarkth can access it on either his PC or Pocket PC.

[clarkth]

I am trying to use MSN Messenger stand-alone in my home with a WLAN CF card, so I'm not connected via ActiveSync (in fact, my computer is not even on). So here's my current situation:

1-I can connect and use MSN Messenger, IE, AOL IM, etc stand alone on my iPaq via dial up with a CF modem (not my home LAN).
2-I can connect and use IE, AOL IM, etc, but not MSN Messenger on my iPaq via my home LAN with a WLAN CF card.

I don't understand why I can get connected to the internet, AOL IM, etc with my iPaq on my home LAN, but not MSN Messenger when using the WLAN CF card. It would seem to me that if I can connect to the internet, I should be able to connect to MSN Messenger. I must not correctly understand how Messenger works.

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

[Darius Wey]

Is your LAN working ad-hoc or through an access point? Also, you don't have any software firewalls installed, do you? (e.g. ZoneAlarm Pro, Norton Internet Security). If you have Windows XP SP2 installed, you may also want to ensure that the Windows Firewall has permitted the MSN Messenger program access to the internet.

[clarkth]

Darius,

I have a Linksys 802.11g Access Point, and a Linksys 802.11g CF card for my iPaq. I run Norton Internet Security on my 2 desktops, one has XP SP2, and the other does not. I'll check the SP2 Windows Firewall, but I still am missing something since I think I should be able to access MSN Messenger on my iPaq when no desktop is running by connecting to my Access Point. I'll play around with the firewall settings and see if I can get it to work. Any other suggestions? Thanks!