Shoutbox

I have the latest version of Windows Live Messenger installed on my brand new computer. It would sign in for the first couple of days and now it doesn't for some weird reason. I get the infamous error 81000306: We were unable to sign u into windows live messenger. Possible because of a problem with the service or your internet connection. I have DSL directly hooked up to my comp, no router. the windows firewall is turned off but i do have norton internet security. I checked the config of the norton firewall and made sure messenger has full access. When I do a connection troubleshoot it tells me that my gateway appears to be offline. How is this possible if I can browse the internet? PLS hlp...