Mac Forum / Applications / Other MS Products / March 2005

I have an iBook G4, running OS 10.3.7. I downloaded the very latest
version (4.0.1) of MSN Messenger Saturday last (12 Feb 05). I didn't
have any of the right e-mail accounts, so I also signed up for a
hotmail.com account at that time.

I went through the set up process and everything worked perfectly. I
was able to log on, log off, and I chatted with a group of friends
several different times during the day. All was well and good. Until I
restarted my computer.

Since then, I have never been able to make it through the sign in
process. I get the "Click here to sign in" screen. I click, I sign. All
the information is correct (email address, password). But _every single
time_ I get the following dialog box:

"Sign in to Messenger failed because the service is not available or
you may not be connected to the Internet."

I am connected to the Internet perpetually by DSL. Furthermore, I
checked the status page and there are no known service breeches in the
system. But _I have not had a single successful sign in_ since I shut
down my computer Saturday evening.

Though the hotmail.com account and password worked fine Saturday, out
of curiosity today I signed up for a different account. But I never was
able to successfully connect, either with the new or the old.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? I'm at wit's end!

Alyson