Unable to use Messenger, but internet is fine

Hello folks.

For my system info, Please find my dxdiag.txt attached to this post

I'm having a strange problem which I hope someone can help with.
I'm running on a fresh install of windows (as of about a month ago) on a fresh hard drive plugged into a fresh motherboard. My computer dual boots windows and ubuntu, with the ubuntu install being on a seperate drive

When I first got everything setup, I had no internet access in windows. I traced this problem to the Nforce NEtworking Controller, which windows did not have a driver for.

I was able to go through ubuntu and download the driver from Nvidia's site, and install it in windows, which seemed to work fine. However, the driver I installed was for Nforce 5, and I have an nForce4 chipset. I did this because I couldn't locate the nForce4 driver anywhere. As I said though, it seemed to go ok

However, now I'm seeing problems. I am trying to use MSN, and cannot. My normal IM client is Pidgin and I've used this under ubuntu for a while without issue. Under windows, it worked fine too for a time. However, mysteriously, it would sometimes suddenly log me out, and refuse to work every time I retried with the following error:

This error always went away after I restarted the PC though, and everything seemed ok. But it started to happen more and more, and now I'm getting that error permanantly even after a restart, and Pidgin is completely nonfunctional.

So I figured I'd give the proper microsoft Windows Live Messenger client a go. This is a no-start, too. It installs fine, brings up the login window, etc. But when I try to log in, it looks like it's processing and it says "Signing In", but after a few seconds it just stops, and returns to the login window, with no error or feedback at all. I've never been able to login to it. I am able to access MSN through the web client on live mail/hotmail, but that's hardly the most ideal method and is seriously lacking in desktop integration. I often miss it buried in a nonfocused tab of the browser when I have some other app in focus.

I'm also running the Nvidia Firewall/Network Access Manager which came with the driver for the nForce. I've tried disabling this though and it still doesn't allow messenger apps access.

Also quite possibly related, I did once have a bluescreen crash about a week ago, which blamed a file called nvtcp. I'm pretty sure that's Nvidia TCP, and is probably firewall related. It's never happened again though

I'm not entirely sure what steps to take here, so I'm hoping someone can provide advice

 

Having seen the exact same error a few times via Pidgin in the last 24 hours which began immediately after changing my Comodo firewall settings, I'd uninstall the nVidia firewall completely, reboot and install a different firewall (or invoke the built-in Windows Firewall) and test again.

 

Ok, just checked on this because it was P'ing me off.

Looks like it's an MS error where they've not updated their certificate on some servers correctly. There's a fairly easy workaround at http://squidsrants.blogspot.com/2010/11/pidgin-msn-and-other-protocols.html that cured it for me.

 

oh hooray, that solution has fixed it.

good thing I didn't go uninstalling my firewall yet!

Thank you!

 

I'm pleased that fixed it for you

Funny how coincidences like my changing firewall settings and you thinking you'd had a firewall related BSOD seemed to be the likely trigger for the errors. When I realised yesterday that it was happening each time a 'new' contact came online yet there was no problem with a regular contact logging on/off, I guessed it wasn't firewall but some serverside problem.

Other people claim to have fixed it by logging in to their Hotmail account in their browser or by deleting the omega certificate in Pidgin and waiting for the MS server to push them a new one.

 

This solution hasn't fixed the official windows live client though, I wonder if anyone might have some ideas for that, as pidgin is still a bit buggy. Half the time when people send me invites they just never get through

 

Error 80072ee7 is what I got with the Live client, what error do you see?

 

Gah. The pidgin error is back!!!

 

No error at all. I click sign in, it processes for a little while. then goes back to the login screen. No errors, no warnings, no sounds, no feedback of any kind.

 

For a Live 'fix', try logging into a Hotmail account (assuming you have one) using IE then try relogging via Live.

 

I just gave that a try, sadly no luck. Any other ideas ?

 

Hmm, turn on the Windows firewall and try again - it's an old bug but worth trying.

 

If that doesn't fix it you may have to resort to the scattergun tactic endorsed by the Live support team, it appears to be successful about 50% of the time, according to the counter.

 

aww, no luck there either