Router and Messenger Help Please?

Question

I have a major problem with my ANY Messenger such as Yahoo, AOL, MSN etc..  For days now I can't stay connected to ANY messenger at all.  Not msn's, windows, yahoo etc.   I have no problem with staying connected to the internet or surfing at all though.  Just my messengers.   I found out last night that my son is having the exact same problem with all of his.  Neither of us have trouble with the internet though.   We both have XP and are set up on a router with seperate IP addresses thru the cable company.  I have run Spybot, a Trojan cleaner, Nortons AV, Adaware etc. Nothing shows up.  I've done a system restore and a defrag.  I've uninstalled and reinstalled my messenger to no avail. pfft  I've been using them for years and have NEVER had a problem like this.  It just stared recently.  And it gives NO warning or Error messages either. I emailed msn thinking it was my messenger but now that I know my son is having the same problem then I know that's not it.  Especially since its happening to ALL messengers and not just my msn one. I recieved a letter back from msn but I nothing has helped. I've since learned that a Router can effect the way messengers work.  I've updated my firmware to the latest and thought that would fix it. It did not.  So now I'm here begging for help. LoL I have a Linksys......EtherFast Cable/DSL Router BEFSR41 ver2. The only thing that I can think of that I might have done before this started (after many years of use) is that I did a Windows update. :-( Nothing there should have effected it though that I can tell. I even did a sys restore to see if it would go back to the way it was. It didn't .   Sorry this is so long, but wanted you to know what I had tried and all already.  Ok, so any help would be MOST appreciated. Sooooo, if you have ANY suggestions?  Please? Thanks Joy

jmwills · Answer

See if this helps:

http://linksys.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/linksys.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=674&p_created=1084219511&p_sid=eBBrh2eh&p_lva=614&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MiZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPXNlYXJjaF9ubCZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMT0mcF9wcm9kX2x2bDI9JnBfY2F0X2x2bDE9JnBfY2F0X2x2bDI9JnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9YWlt&p_li=

I think those services may have been turned off somehow when you upgraded.

jwatt · Answer

Joy, Even though it's about a wireless setup, this thread discusses this same problem. Note that the BEFSR41 does support UPnP. Jim

Dave Lyle · Answer

The latest 'stable' firmware for this router was ver 1.44.2 You might want to try that firmware. It can be obtained here.

Do a hard reset (paper clip thru reset hole, hold 5 seconds until diags light comes on) both before and after the firmware upgrade.

jolynn · Answer

Thanks for all the help guys,  still not working though.  I'll keep at it and see what else I find. :-(

jwatt · Answer

Have you tried enabling UPnP in the router, and on the XP systems? Jim

jmwills · Answer

That thought has crossed my mind because I know the Server platforms will auto configure a router if you allow the OS to do so, so messenger being a Microsoft product, should do the same.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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