Windows Live Messenger constantly disconnects

[brokenhalo]

So far every person in my company has had the same issue where WLM contantly disconnects/reconnects every few minutes - including myself. With me, I just downgraded a few versions, then it started working again. I am now at the current version of WLM and it seems to be working fine. However, we got a new employee and hers is doing the same thing, and its becoming REALLY annoying as I cannot seem to fix this one. I am not sure exactly what the problem is as the problem seems to always fix itself. Here is what I have done so far...

Downgraded her WLM
Disabled network autotuning: Not sure why this would have been the cause, as I have had the same WLM disconnect issue on XP Pro, but worth a try anyways

I have seen a hundred forums about this same issue with no real answers. If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated. As always, thanks!!!


Brad L.
Systems Engineer
Prestige Technologies
bradlaszlo[at]prestigetech.com

http://www.prestigetech.com

"Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there's Google.

 

[linney]

If you boot a machine into "Safe Mode with Networking", can you repeat the problem on that particular machine?

If that was successful in eliminating any drop out, then the next steps would be along these lines.

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/929135

Try this link (What can I do to troubleshoot connectivity issues?) on the left side of this page here.

Troubleshoot connectivity problems

http://help.live.com/help.aspx?project=WL_Messengerv9&market=en-us

 

[brokenhalo]

Safe Mode makes no difference, as I should have stated before, and the link you provided for diagnosing connection problems is also all irrelevant because I do not have a problem connecting to WLM, I just have a problem keeping a connection.

If I am connected for a while, if I try to send a file or share a picture through WLM, it is guaranteed I will be disconnected. Then after it disconnects, it will automatically reconnect a few seconds later.

Brad L.
Systems Engineer
Prestige Technologies
bradlaszlo[at]prestigetech.com

http://www.prestigetech.com

"Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there's Google.

 

[brokenhalo]

Anybody? This is still a HUGE annoyance

Brad L.
Systems Engineer
Prestige Technologies
bradlaszlo[at]prestigetech.com

http://www.prestigetech.com

"Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there's Google.

 

[linney]

You could have another look at the "Troubleshoot Connectivity Problems" link I supplied earlier, and follow it through to the Microsoft Support via the "Get More Help" link at the bottom of the page, and the "Get Support" link on the resulting page. This will give you an option to report the matter to Microsoft and have them look at it.

Some weird Internet problems have been resolved via disabling IPV6 if you want to give that a try.

Check your IPv6 configuration
"Disabling IPv6"

http://www.ipv6day.org/action.php?n=En.Configuration-WindowsVista

How are these machines getting out and on to the Internet at your work, what is between the machine (hardware) and the Servers at Windows Live?

Another weird problem with connections was caused by Nvidia Chipsets.

Got Network issues and nForce Chipset...
thread1583-1437402

 

[brokenhalo]

I did first suspect that somehow our Sonicwall was blocking the WLM traffic from going in/out, but after some log investigation that is not the case. The problem seems to lie in the negotiation between WLM and the Microsoft servers. Some of the machines are directly in the office behind the firewall, some are connected through VPN, and some are not connected to anything in the corporate network at all - and still having troubles.

IPv6 makes sense (can't believe I didn't think of it), I will try that and post back - then, worst case scenario, I will have to call India and see if they can help.

Thanks!

Brad L.
Systems Engineer
Prestige Technologies
bradlaszlo[at]prestigetech.com

http://www.prestigetech.com

"Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there's Google.

 

[linney]

The online E-mail Support is written correspondence and I think it is direct to Microsoft and hopefully comes with the ability to escalate up the chain of command if first level support fails you.

Some of the computer Support out of India, or the Philippines, is of a high standard as long as both parties can overcome the "accents" of the spoken language over a phone line. You can always ask to speak to a higher level of support (Supervisor) if progress is not being made.

 

[NetworkTek]

After a quick google search. I found a guy that claimed to have had the same problem and it was the date & time on his Sonicwall. I don't see how this would make a difference myself but it might be worth looking in to. Also are you in any groups. There was another guy claimed to have removed himself from any groups even the one's he created and his now stay connected. It might be worth a shot to look in to both.

Network+ Inet+ MCP MCSA 2k3

 

[brokenhalo]

I have googled my fingers blue about this, and have read about the groups thing, which in this case, is definitely not the issue. I have not read about the date and time on the sonicwall though - I will look into it. Thanks

Brad L.
Systems Engineer
Prestige Technologies
bradlaszlo[at]prestigetech.com

http://www.prestigetech.com

"Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there's Google.

 

[linney]

Are these people logged in to Messenger on other machines at the time connections play up? Do they have a special work only sign in, or are they using there own private Live ID?

 

[brokenhalo]

No, logged into just one machine - and yes, they are all work-only Win Live ID's

Brad L.
Systems Engineer
Prestige Technologies
bradlaszlo[at]prestigetech.com

http://www.prestigetech.com

"Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there's Google.

 

[brokenhalo]

I uploaded the Network log file to one of my servers for you guys to review. Looks fishy to me, maybe someone can decipher it...

http://www.ptihosting.com/downloads/Win_Live_Msgr.txt

Brad L.
Systems Engineer
Prestige Technologies
bradlaszlo[at]prestigetech.com

http://www.prestigetech.com

"Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there's Google.

 

[linney]

Was there any disconnecting and reconnecting during the logging period? Was it something that happed about 9 times? If it was, and I don't really understand the log output, is it tied up with logging events around this "hrDisconnect = 0x00000000" in your log?

Not much help I know.

 

[MarcLodge]

Long shot, what Antivirus software are you using?

 

[brokenhalo]

We are using Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Advanced throughout our corp

Brad L.
Systems Engineer
Prestige Technologies
bradlaszlo[at]prestigetech.com

http://www.prestigetech.com

"Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there's Google.

 

[MarcLodge]

Brad,
Just so that I've got this straight, please allow me to summarise.

You have a disconnect problem that happens on every machine in the company, and for every user. You have managed to get around this problem for yourself by downgrading, but for a new user, this fix no longer works. Presumably, you can sign on to a work station and the problem does not exist, but if the new user signs on to the same workstation, the problem occurs.

Have I understood correctly?

A couple of questions:
Is it a specific thing that causes the disconnect or is the disconnect random?
Can you trigger the disconnect at will?
If you can trigger at will, is it possible that you could post the log for just that time when the disconnect occured?

There is an awful lot of data in that log and it's a little difficult to see the wood for the trees.

Regards,
Marc