Mac Guru needed

[WLeg]

for a what I hope is a real easy problem....I'm a PC person myself and have never claimed to know anything about Macs....

On the same wireless network, I have 3 PC's running no problems. All use MSN messenger.

Through into the mix a G4 iBook running OSX 10.4.2 and MS Mac Messenger 5.0.

Using the same Messenger ID I can sign in on all of the PC's but not the Mac.

Likewise, none of the Messenger ID's I use on the PC's work on the Mac, so I feel it is a problem with the Mac, and not Firewall, Passport, or IP related...

I simply get "Sign in to Msn Messenger failed because the service is not available or you may not be connected to the internet."

The Mac can browse MSN sites, and sign in to other Passport services.
I get the same message regardless of an Ethernet or Wireless connection.
Nothing interesting is logged on the firewall / router.

- interestingly, I can sign in to webmessenger from the Mac, although this is not really a usable solution.

What am I missing ? Are there any Firewalls on the Mac ? Is there another Messenger client I can use to connect to the same passport account ?

 

[fuzzer]

i can't give a solution .. but some info.

MSN on the mac uses a different server to the pc ... you will find that when the pc one goes offline , its all your buddies with macs who are still online. hehe

 

[Lazarus]

Open up a terminal session and type the following:

> netstat -na

This should return a list of open connections - you are looking for something like this:

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:xxxx 207.46.6.85:1863 ESTABLISHED

If you don't see a connection to port 1863 (the MSN port), it may be that the firewall on the Mac is blocking connections.

The firewall configuration is in the Network control panel, you might be set to block outbound connections to all ports other than 25, 110, 23 and 80.

Jason
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[rees_A]

I have a friend who has a mac who says messenger doesn't work properly on it. He bought a PC instead..it was that bad

 

[WLeg]

Seems to have fixed itself - was not working all weekend, then it sprang into lfe yesterday....no idea as to why.

 

[Lazarus]

If you are still having problems with the MSN client, try this:

http://fire.sourceforge.net/

If it doesn't connect, then you'll know it's a problem with a local firewall setting, if it does, then it's problem with the version of MSN Messenger.

Laz.
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[scotth_uk]

I vote the other way. PC MSN is rubbish at my place, whereas the Mac version just keeps on working!!!!!