Hello,

Today I have been setting up BroadBand using a NetGear DG834G Wireless ADSL Router using an AOL UK BroadBand Connection. At first the problem was MSN Messenger not signing in on any laptop or computer, but after contacting AOL Support, they told me to change the MTU Size to 1400 and it connecting was fine but on all computers MSN Messenger signs out after 1-5 mins after signin even with no programs running and only one laptop powered on. Any ideas guys?

Yours,
Craig Brass

Are you using MSN Messenger 6 or 7.

I have exactly the same setup as you (minus the laptop - I have a desktop PC instead) and I haven't noticed MSN connection dropping out.

If you're on MSN 6, you could try a program called MSNServers which changes the server which connects you to MSN. I don't have a link for it, search the forum, someone may've attached it to their post.

Are you using a firewall? If so, certain ports may be blocked - which can lead to problems with some internet related programs.

Also, some people I believe report that if their MSN has messenger plus, they sometimes experience dropouts on their connection to msn only. If you have messenger plus included with MSN messenger - try uninstalling it and use MSN and see if it drops out.

Hope this helps

It is MSN 6 but yesterday I tried it with MSN 7 Beta on my laptop and it did exactly the same thing....kept disconnecting.

Are you an UK or US customer of AOL btw (you mentioned you have the same setup so I assume using AOL aswell) and if UK are you on the Silver, Gold or Platinum package?

I never touched the firewall settings inside the router, just left em as they were set as default by NetGear.

It has been tried on two laptops using MSN 6 with and without MSNPlus and MSN 7 with and without MSGPlus and same problems so I know it's not that.

One other thing I have just noticed as I am at home now is that when accessing the control panel, it only lets me do so for a few mins and then the IP changes, maybe this is a connection dropping problem? But still any help is appriciated guys!

try changing servers.

It says server file not found. Where am I supposed to put this file cos I tried the MSN Messenger dir.

i have Aol Broadband Gold, and Aol is perfect for me, so i dont think its Aol causing your problem

quote:

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Originally posted by craigbrass
It says server file not found. Where am I supposed to put this file cos I tried the MSN Messenger dir.

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Craigbrass - do you notice that every now and again the 2nd light in from the left (showing current activity) flashes in orange? You mentioned about your IP changing after a connection drop and this may mean that your entire connection is dropping rather than just MSN.

If so, is this your first modem, or on your previous modem was it working okay?

You could also try scanning for spyware which tends to affect connection reliability.

Btw, I'm a british customer on the AOL Broadband Platinum package.

Well it was just me changing settings that was causing it to reconnect and change ips.

There is definatly NO spyware on the computers as I formatted the hard drives and reinstalled XP on them.

They got a modem with the broadband but they are computer n00bs and never got it out the box so I plugged the router in first. I didn't want to try the modem as I didn't want to install AOL browser on it and slow everything up.

I have a suggestion that you might not like, change providers. AOL isn't that great, at least over here in North America it blows compared to a lot of smaller, local providers.

Hey, they want to but because AOL has a 12 month contract they can't as only 1 month has passed!

quote:

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Originally posted by Chaotic_Shield
I have a suggestion that you might not like, change providers. AOL isn't that great, at least over here in North America it blows compared to a lot of smaller, local providers.

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Yea, but nobody beats plusnet! They are making all customers 8MB in april (or the 500 exchanges that are on trial) and the rest 8MB when they are activated for it. Anyway, can we stick to the topic in hand rather than defending AOL's crappy service please *winks*

Ok, an update. The MSN messenger server changer didn't work, but Windows Messenger has NO problems when connecting using that. Does that give any clues to why MSN Messenger isn't workin?