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Messenger Will Not Login

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Acad...@officeformac.com

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May 10, 2010, 2:12:40 AM5/10/10
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Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Intel Hi All,

I've seen this title a number of times and have gone through the threads but they all seem to lack successful resolution. Much like other users I have been getting the "Sign in MSN Messenger failed because the service is not available to you or you may not be connected to the Internet".

After having gone through all of the steps included in these threads that may alleviate the situation I still am unable to access Messenger. As directed in the post on general solutions I've saved a System Profile and a TCP Dump. Even went to the trouble of documenting my attempts to resolve the issue step by step with the outcome at each step. Anyone have any new information out there or a contact for support with the issue?

Regards,
D

See Below for Documentation of Steps__________________________________
Steps Taken
-Uninstalled Messenger
-Deleted com.microsoft.Messenger.plist / Microsoft Messenger User Cache / Microsoft Messenger User Cache.plist
-Fully shutdown and restarted the computer
-Ejected Messenger Disk Mount after moving Messenger to Applications
-Reinstalled Messenger
        o Selected to log into a Personal Account
        o Used existing Live ID and did not select option to save username
           and password
-Completed Installation
-Error Message still occurs
-Followed the following steps from the Mactopia Forums
        o 1. Make sure you entered your password correctly. Passwords are
                case sensitive
                � Username and Password are both correct
        o 2. Go to the Sign-in dialog and uncheck �Save Password�, click OK.
                Then quit and relaunch Messenger. When you try to sign-in
                manually enter your password, but do not save.
                � Error still occurs
        o 3. Try to sign-in again to see if it might be server related. Server
                 issues may take a few hours to resolve. If you always take two
                 tries after launching the application to sign-in, please delete
                 your preferences and setup Messenger again. Information
                 about deleting your preferences can be found below.
                � Error still occurs. Proceeded to delete preferences and
                   repeated setup, error still occurs. Has been occurring for over
                   a week.
        o 4. Check to see if you have the OS Firewall enabled. If so, make
                sure you have an exception for the listing �MSN Messenger�. If
                not, you will need to create a New exception. The OS firewall
                settings are set in System Preferences | Sharing | Firewall tab.
                � Firewall is not enabled. Settings are to allow all incoming
                   connections.
        o 5. If you have a firewall on your router, please make sure to add
               Messenger as an exception or open the ports for chatting. Port
               1863 over TCP.
               � No firewall is active on wireless router.
        o 6. If you are behind proxies, please make sure they are setup
                correctly in the System Preferences | Network. If that doesn�t
                help, please set them up manually in Messenger | Preferences |
                Accounts. Make sure you have the correct �Type� chosen.
                � No proxies are enabled, bypass is set for �*.local,
                   169.254/16�
        o 7. Are you running any network traffic utilities, such as Little
                Snitch, NetBarrier, etc. If so, please make sure you are running
                the latest version. You will need to make sure you have allowed
                Messenger as an exception in any utility that blocks network
                traffic, or you will be unable to sign-in.
                � No such utilities are enabled.
        o 8. Launch the Keychain Access application, located in your Utilities

Acad...@officeformac.com

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May 10, 2010, 2:16:58 AM5/10/10
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o 8. Launch the Keychain Access application, located in your Utilities
                folder. Look on the left pane for the x509 anchors. Do any
                certificates show for the x509 anchors? If so, do you have the
                'Secure Server Certification Authority' certificate? If not, you will
                 need to copy this certificate from another Macintosh into the
                 x509 anchors in your keychain, or reinstall the OS. The
                 certificate allows for a more secure login.
                 � Unable to find x509 anchors � doest not appear in the left
                     pane.
                 � Located x509 anchors in System/Library/Keychains and
                    added x509 Keychain
        o 9. Delete your preferences, then try to setup Messenger and sign-
                in again > * All preferences are located in your
                ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft folder
                > * com.microsoft.Messenger.plist
                > * com.microsoft.MessengerDaemon.plist
                > * Microsoft Messenger User Cache
                > * Microsoft Messenger User Cache.plist
                � Error still occurs.
        o If none of the above works for you, please send a TCPDump
           (instructions below) to your support representative. Please make
           sure no other network applications are running at the time,
           outside of Messenger. Thanks.
           � Done as instructed but its beyond my technical ability to
               interpret.

Kam...@officeformac.com

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May 13, 2010, 1:42:13 PM5/13/10
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So I just now signed up to post this:
I found the possible solution for the sign in problem!
I was on the edge of getting crazy, but then i broke up the log in process, went to
Messenger/Options/ Accounts/Personal
and selected "adjust manually" and UNchecked "I am using a proxy-server".
That did it for me, i tried it both with MSN7 and 8Beta.

(sorry if the names are not completely right, as i am using another language Version of MSN)

Please everyone try this and verify it, if it worked!

Acad...@officeformac.com

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May 13, 2010, 2:17:56 PM5/13/10
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Hi Kamina,

Thanks for the suggestion. Hopefully it works for others out there but for me it doesn't work - "I am using a proxy-server" was not checked. Hopefully someone out there can help me!

D

Acad...@officeformac.com

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May 13, 2010, 2:58:24 PM5/13/10
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Ok, so after a few weeks of fighting with this, and every complicated step under the sun, the solution (for me) ended up being the stupidest thing in the world...

Now... I can't say without a doubt that this was the only thing that corrected the issue because obviously I had done a lot of other things previously... BUT...

After reading elsewhere on these forums that someone had corrected the issue by changing their password, I decided to give it a shot. I logged into Windows Live (http://home.live.com) and immediately was asked to provide my year of birth, the country I live in, and to accept the new terms and conditions. I thought to myself that this couldn't possibly be the moronic reason my MSN hasn't been working this long, surely Microsoft would have communicated that this was necessary somehow... so I reinstalled MSN (i had previously removed it during troubleshooting) and attempted to log in. Low and behold... it worked, without having to change my password. Seriously Microsoft?

Anyway, hopefully this works for some of you who have found no relief elsewhere!

D

Acad...@officeformac.com

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May 13, 2010, 2:59:01 PM5/13/10
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Kam...@officeformac.com

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May 14, 2010, 2:49:46 PM5/14/10
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Sorry to hear that it didnt work for you, i was really excited because that was my solution, but maybe its several things that play a roll in this matter.
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