MSN messenger problem

[Adn4n]

My friend asked me to help him get his MSN messenger working again. It simply won't even try to connect. In the preferences menu it tells me that "key ports" are the problem. He uses XP professional. The windows firewall is turned off and so is ZoneAlarm(only firewall he uses). Does anyone have an idea how to tackle this problem?

I know that MSN messenger uses TCP port 1863. Canyouseeme.org cannot establish a connection on that port, so how do I go about opening that port? I don't even know what's refusing the connection here. He does not have a router.

 

[John]

Are you able to log into websites that require a username & password? It sounds like you may have a virus or trojan. Have you scanned using a quality scanner?

Unless you have Kaspersky, Nod32, or bitdefender installed I would recommend uninstalling your current antivirus and install AOL Kaspersky.

 

[MechaSheeba]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think they dropped support for MSN and have now moved to Windows Live Messenger? I can't connect with MSN either, but the Windows Live version works fine.

 

[John]

FWIW msn and windows messenger still work fine.

 

[Adn4n]

He can log into sites that require a username and password. He also does not have a virus; I did double check his machine with Kaspersky, which found absolutely nothing.

 

[Adn4n]

And he does not use a router either.

 

[John]

Can he connect to http://www.msn.com? If not reset the IE security settings and make sure the site is not listed in the restricted sites section.

Make sure Messenger is closed. Try to register softpub.dll using regsvr32.exe.

1.Press Start > Run
2.Type regsvr32 softpub.dll
3.Press Enter & Restart Messenger

 

[Adn4n]

He can connect to www.msn.com

I got a success message when i registered softpub.dll

Msn messenger won't connect still.

 

[Adn4n]

Bump

 

[nace186]

check his tcp/ip property to see if his ip is manual or automatically obtain. It happen to one of my friend once, she could do everything accept connecting to msn messenger, it took me a while but I finally found out what's wrong. Her ip was manually inputed and not automatically obtain, once I changed it, she was able to connect.

 

[Adn4n]

It's automatically obtained. I've run out of ideas myself.

 

[John]

1) Can you connect using the XP Windows Messenger?
2) Uninstall MSN Messenger and install Windows Live Messenger

 

[Adn4n]

Originally posted by: John
1) Can you connect using the XP Windows Messenger?
2) Uninstall MSN Messenger and install Windows Live Messenger

He can't connect using Windows Messenger.
Windows Live Messenger gives him the same "key ports" message as MSN messenger.