Sorry, I just couldn’t resist because I think it’s a specific account problem since he was able to login to another account.

btw, have you tried deleting the 4 folders for contacts cache?

1. Exit WLM.
2. Click Start, click Run, type “%USERPROFILE%Application DataMicrosoftIdentityCRL” then press ENTER on your keyboard. Delete all files in the folder.

3. Click Start, click Run, type “%ALLUSERSPROFILE%Application DataMicrosoftIdentityCRL” then delete all files in the folder.

4. Click Start, click Run, type “%USERPROFILE%Local SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftWindows Live Contacts” then delete all files in the folder.

5. Click Start, click Run, type “%USERPROFILE%Contacts” then delete all files in the folder.

Skip these if you’ve already done all of them.

Have you tried logging in on a different XP Profile?