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First off, I am sorry I know there are similar threads about similar problems but after spending no word of a lie 4 hours reading through forum after forum and not getting any answers and seeing most on this site are dated 2005 I decided to just ask.
I’m Running Windows XP Media.
Windows Live Messenger Version : 2009 14.0.8089.726. It’s the newest because I just tried to reinstall WLM for the 3rd time.
My problem is that I do not receive any offline messages sent to me. I’ve checked my settings 100 times. I have Show on sign in selected (I’ve tried the other option as well)
Now if I sign into my account on another computer, I am instantly flooded with ALL of the missed offline messages that once almost crashed the computer I was on.As I said I reinstalled WLM 3 times. The last time I spent hours taking ALL traces of the program off, including registry entries and any file I could reasonably associate with it. Still nothing.
This is a new problem. I’ve always gotten offline messages fine, then just one day nothing came again. I have no idea what changed. I have no pop-up blocked and My Mcafee doesn’t seem to be the problem (WLM gets full permissions and nothing has changed in Mcafee)
I’ve checked all firewalls I am aware of. And I checked my router net connection using a laptop which got the message fine. A lot of posters who suffer similar also claimed that MSN today wouldn’t load. Mine loads fine. And I get no lag with the program. I also check regularly for Virus’s and Malware.
I’m So lost. Please help me.It sounds more like something on your system is blocking the messages from coming thru to you than it does a problem with WLM directly.
Please ensure you have the latest versions of both Java and Flash.
You said you are using McAfee for Anti-Virus. McAfee could very easily have changed something with an automatic update and you’d have no idea that it had. My first suggestion would be to temporarily disable McAfee and test to see if you get the offlines. Is there a built in pop-up blocker in McAfee that may be turned on? Be sure to re-enable it right away after testing it.
Do you have any other anti-virus programs on your machine (even if they aren’t running)? What firewall are you using? Which service pack for XP do you have? You do have full admin rights on the machine correct? Is your login @hotmail.com or is it something else.
Hello to everyone,
i seem to have the same problem. In fact, i believe it is an account issue and not a machine issue since from the same machine on a different account everything seems to work and on my account on a different machine it still doesn’t. I have also noticed that when both ppl talking are offline i never get msgs while the other one does normally. And if just i am offline i do get them but only when the convo is already on. I mean an offline msg cannot start a convo on my end. When i am online everything works as it should.
Thank you for your time
I would agree when you try different machines and experience the same problem it is likely an account issue.
However, the original poster said
Now if I sign into my account on another computer, I am instantly flooded with ALL of the missed offline messages that once almost crashed the computer I was on.
Obviously the account was perfectly fine on another machine. That points more to a machine specific problem.
I am using service pack 3 xp media edition. Mcafee I’ve checked everywhere and way I can think of Windows live has full permissions. and there is no pop up blocker enabled can I find one in Mcafee.
I have full admin rights. I only have the default windows firewall (besides mcafee) and its disabled and I added WLM to its permissions just to be safe.
I am using a @hotmail.com address. and the only popup blocker I am aware of on my computer is My Internet explorers. but I’ve always had it. and again it use to work fine on this computer. I don’t know what changed.
whats strange though is that if I log into another computer I get ALL the offline messages I didn’t get on my regular computer. Sometimes they are weeks old.
And I didn’t do any manual update on my computer to cause this… if its an updates fault it would have to be an automatic one.
Btw I’m on my 4th install, I ran it through a shredder program to get rid of all traces I thought i may have missed. still no luck.
I doubt uninstalling and reinstalling WLM is going to fix the problem, no matter how many times you try. It sounds like some other program is blocking the offlines from coming through (and McAfee is the culprit that jumps to my mind.)
I would still suggest disabling McAfee for just a brief time (long enough to see if you get any offlines at login). Regardless of the outcome, of course you will want to re-enable it within a few minutes as you do not want to leave yourself unprotected. The steps to temporarily disable it are:
- Double-click the taskbar icon to open SecurityCenter
- Click Advanced Menu (bottom left)
- Click Configure (left)
- Click Computer & Files (top left)
- Turn it off in the right-hand module and tell it for how long.
I did find this forum thread about McAfee blocking inbound traffic through the firewall with regard to video call requests. I really suspect you have a similar issue. You can find information about the ports and urls used by WLM here.
Test with McAfee disabled, and if that solves the problem then take the extra steps necessary to change the configurations. Decent security programs continually change to keep pace with the problems out there. It’s quite possible that some auto-update to the McAfee program changed something. You would likely not even know such things unless you experienced a problem afterwards.
Ruling McAfee out is going to be important. Until we do that we don’t really know which way to look. Since you’ve already tried thorough removal and re-install there really isn’t any point in going down that road a 5th time. So we need to look for possible conflicts and security programs are a big one. Are you by any chance running any other security programs on that machine? Even ones that are just installed but not actively running….say….Norton or AVG? Maybe take a quick glance at your Add/Remove programs list and just let me know if you see anything that looks like a Anti-Virus or Malware removal type of program.
I have the same or at least a very similar problem.
A week ago my msn account suddendly did no longer receive offline instant messages.
I already tried a repair intallation, I also tried to completly rid all traces of live messenger and the reinstall it. But the problem remains.
I also changed absolutley nothing the day the problem first happened and I don’t get why I am suddendly unable to receive offline messages.I started to experiment a bit and found out two things:
-I can still receive offline messages on my other msn account/email perfectly fine
-I tried using e-buddy with this account and ask someone to send me an offline message after I went offline on e-buddy. After that I logged into live messenger with the same account, and I received said offline message. I tried this some more and it worked every time. But if someone tries to send me an offline message after I singed out from using live messenger I still receive no offline messages at allDoes that give anyone some clever ideas? I don’t know alot about this stuff and I’m pretty stumped. I even tried contacting the live messenger support, but they suggested that they need fully acces to my account to run some tests, and that I should upload two program files (“Contactlogs.txt” and a “msnmsgr.txt”) and upload them to this skydrive thing…which I never used and would need to register at…and frankly the whole things just seemed fishy and complicated and I’m trying to keep it as a last resort.
Thanks in advance. 🙂
By the way I don’t use McAfee but I do use Avira Antivir, I don’t see how deactivating it could help since my other account works perfectly fine, but I will try that.
I also have XP with the newest update packs as far as I am aware, as well as the newest java and flash.Edit: I tried to receive an offline message with my Antivir deactivated, still didn’t work
When you log in through E-buddy you are actually hitting a different server. When you then log back into WLM on the “normal” channel it sounds like it recognizes the change – and up pop your offlines.
Are you able to duplicate the problem on another machine with the affected login?? I’m really interested to know if this will happen on another machine or not.
Sounds like the workaround for the moment is to log into e-buddy after closing out WLM and then you should receive your offlines the next time you log in.
Note: The original poster has already noted their particular problem is not duplicated on another machine. The same e-buddy solution may or may not work for them, but until we know if your problem can be duplicated we have to assume your issue is slightly different from that of the original post (though I’d also be interested to know if the e-buddy solution works for Honorjoriah.)
Wow, why didn’t I think of that workaround…makes me feel kinda stupid. Thanks alot for the help! That should help me to avoid the problem for now. I hope that way works for honorjoriah too.
I’ll check out what happens on a different machine asap, let’s see if that sheds some light.
Yep! That there is what I definitely call a workaround 🙂 You did some fantastic troubleshooting! You should be very proud of yourself for what you found! (I’m very impressed with the level of detail and the fact you tested several times to ensure e-buddy worked every time and to test what didn’t work as well.) Sounds like you are a natural born troubleshooter 😉
I rather suspect with the number of offline messages and undelivered messages people are having lately this workaround may come in very handy for many people. Thanks for figuring it out!!
Let me know what you find on another machine and we’ll just have to wait to see if this helps Honorjoriah or not.
Thanks. I always try to figure out as much as I can on my own before I ask someone for help.
I tested it on another machine, the problem remains, none of my old offline messages appeared. And I also asked someone to send me something again while I’m offline. No luck. So at least for me this problem has to do something with my account, rather than with my machine.
So yeah, it seems that my problem is very similar to the one described in the OP, but might have a different cause.
This pretty much means I can’t really do alot about it, right? Other than possibly giving the WLM people control over my account temporary. Apparently they have the power to do that, I don’t even need to send them my password, they just need my agreement.
Or maybe I could just wait and see if it fixes itself eventually. Now that I have the workaround I’m in no hurry. Thanks once again.
Yup. If it happens on another machine it’s likely a server issue. You can’t do anything outside of waiting it out (using the workaround of course) or getting back in touch with support.
Even if you do let them look at your account, they may or may not be able to fix it for you right away. Sometimes they have to dig to find the real cause so they can fix it. That doesn’t mean looking at just your account, sometimes they have to dig into things on their end and that can take time. The only way to know if it’s a quick fix is to let them try.
If the workaround doesn’t bother you – you can always use it for awhile and then test to see if it’s resolved on it’s own. Lots of things do just magically go away just like they happen out of the blue. Can’t hurt anything to wait a few days and see how it goes.
If you do contact support and get a resolution will you please let us know what they find?
Another option is to create an entirely new Live account. Before doing so, save all your contacts by going to Contacts > Save instant messaging contacts. Once your new account is up and running, go to Contacts > Import instant messaging contacts.
Sadly After disabling every part of mcafee part by part with no luck after each attempt I tried with a full disable (everything that could be turned off went off) and still no luck. I added the mentioned fix’s just in case I missed something but still nothing.
This is very annoying >< I think WLM hates me.
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