Yahoo Messenger Abnormality

[Doric]

I had a user complaining that their YM suddenly stopped working, without any changes made by them. I investigated, and messed around a bit in YM - with proxy settings, without proxy settings, etc., etc. Piped them through the same port we use for 'net access and everything else - still no authentication. IE is working just fine.

So I returned to my own desk and installed Trillian (to try across multiple messaging apps), and got about ten minutes of flawless chat connectivity with a friend of mine. Logged off and went about my day. Assumed the user's account had been disabled or something along that line.

Next morning, Trillian opens itself up (damn, forgot to disable that), and gives me a minute of connectivity before booting me off. Strange... I fire the app back up, and same thing - connects, stays connected for a minute, and disconnects. At no point, however, am I able to actuall message anyone on the outside world.

Here's where it gets creepier. I ping'd an IP address outside of our network, and got a return failure error from the server's IP address. Again, internet connectivity and email are not effected in any way.

I assume this is a software issue, though it might be more network-related. I have not gone to the server level to see if anything is up there, as this seems to be the only issue. Literally all other aspects of daily operation are 100% functional.

Thoughts? Comments? Throw me a bone here.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mallow]

Those chat programs use specific ports that are being blocked by network admins? I unno.

 

[Slugbait]

Trillian leeches, so there's a possibilty they're getting booted from the servers they used to connect to.

AOL did the same thing to MSN Messenger years ago...each time they locked out MSN Messenger, a new build of MSN Messenger was released that could use AOL servers again. A true pissing match. Then MSN stopped circumventing AOL servers, and decided to try out-performing them instead of out-witting them (one could assume there were legal reasons as well). Still, it was fun while it lasted...after the third lock-out, MSN Messenger could connect with AOL users again simply by installing the original build of MSN Messenger that was originally locked out. AOL had their heads up their buttz. Those were fun daze.

It may not be exactly what you're experiencing, but it may be a clue.