Windows Msgr - No Video/Audio

[Guest]

Hi there

Newbie to Messenger here, but I should be up to date. I've downloade
the latest Messenger from MSN. Using Charter Broadband. I d
audio/video setup with no problem. There's the audio, there's th
video. Great. I try to open a video conference to someone, and I ge
nothing but the happy icon guy with the pip over his shoulder. I'
expecting I should at least see my output somewhere, bu
nothing

I'm running xp with latest updates. Linksys 54gwrt with lates
firmware. Universal Plug n Play enabled on Router, as I've read.
Zone Alarm is off. My connections page in Messenger says "You ar
connected to the internet through a UPnP port restricted NAT." I hav
the "Internet Gateway" available in Network Connections. I have not
opened any ports on the router, and I'm not sure how to do that if I needed to
Is that safe, anyways, to open ports

I'm at a loss. I can't imagine people in the freakin' future wil
ever get anything done, because they'll spend 2 weeks trying to figur
out why they can't webcam someone else for god's sake

Anybody give me some insight? Typing chat works fine, but who want
to do that? Went out and bought the camera just so I could make thi
work

Thanks

oj

 

[DickMc]

I have a similar problem on a new Compaq Presario. I get
video and broken up audio, but the other end gets neither
sound or video. My wife uses Messenger successfully
almost every day on a Dell to talk to family. Both
machines are connected to the internet through a MS
wireless router. I have tried a clean boot on the Compaq
to get rid of interfering services. After the last try I
noticed pop-blocking was enabled in IE - will suppress
that next.

 

[Guest]

Hey

Since no one anywhere seems to want to answer my issue, I downloaded Yahoo Messenger. Works great, since it goes through their servers, instead of p2p. I'd rather have the speed, but something is better than nothing

Still would like to use Messenger from Windows tho. Anybody

oj

 

[Guest]

bump...

 

[Guest]

Hi oj -

Not sure if you're still reading this thread, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. I read the reply you got from Joel where he says keyword - NAT. All I can say about him is keyword - Idiot. It always frustrates & disappoints me when people leave cryptic and meaningless answers like that.

Anyway, on to your problem. I'm having a similar problem with video conferencing using Windows Messenger. I noticed that you use MSN Messenger, but they're very close cousins.

Here's what I think might be the problem - the Linksys WRT54G. Here's why I think that:

About a year and a half ago I started doing video conferencing with family memebers using a Logitech QuickCam Zoom, on WinXP using Windows Messenger ver. 4.7, using a Linksys BEFW11S4 802.11b router with UPnP enabled.

Everything was peachy and I never had any problems.

About 2 weeks ago I upgraded to a Linksys WRT54G 802.11b/g router to get the 54 Mbps wireless speed and to take advantage of the hardwire firewall in the 54G.

First thing I noticed after I connected up the WRT54G is that video conferencing quit working. I'd get an error message stating something about the " network is unable to connect."

So, I disconnected the Linksys WRT54G and put back the old Linksys BEFW11S4 and, viola, video conferencing started working fine again. Switched back to the WRT54G, just to make sure, and sure enough, no video conferencing.

I've contacted Linksys support and they've given me the usual run-around about upgrading to the latest firmware and turning on port forwarding, etc. , etc. I finally cornered the tech when I told him that I've upgraded the firmware, twice, and I'm at the latest version. I also told him the video conferencing works fine on my BEFW11S4 without resorting to forwarding a bunch of ports (that's what UPnP is suppose to do anyway). He finally admitted that they have a problem with the WRT54G and that he would forward my concerns to a Product Manager.

This doesn't solve your problem, but I hope it lets you know that it's probably not something you're doing wrong. Most likely it's a bug in the stupid router. I wish they would do a better job of Q&A (Quality and Assurance) testing before they release their products.

For now I've gone back to the older BEFW11S4 and video conferencing works fine. I've also tested just plugging straight into my DSL modem and leaving the BEFW11S4 out of the picture. That also works fine. But, since I have several computers in the house, I need the BEFW11S4 router connected to get them all on the internet.

Hope this has been helpful. I'm going to keep on Linksys to see if I can get them to fix the problem and release an updated firmware version. However, that may take many months of prodding to get them going. They're a very frustrating operation to work with.

Best of luck.

--Fitz

 

[OJ]

Hi oj -

Not sure if you're still reading this thread, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. I read the reply you got from Joel where he says keyword - NAT. All I can say about him is keyword - Idiot. It always frustrates & disappoints me when people leave cryptic and meaningless answers like that.

Anyway, on to your problem. I'm having a similar problem with video conferencing using Windows Messenger. I noticed that you use MSN Messenger, but they're very close cousins.

Here's what I think might be the problem - the Linksys WRT54G. Here's why I think that:

About a year and a half ago I started doing video conferencing with family memebers using a Logitech QuickCam Zoom, on WinXP using Windows Messenger ver. 4.7, using a Linksys BEFW11S4 802.11b router with UPnP enabled.

Everything was peachy and I never had any problems.

About 2 weeks ago I upgraded to a Linksys WRT54G 802.11b/g router to get the 54 Mbps wireless speed and to take advantage of the hardwire firewall in the 54G.

First thing I noticed after I connected up the WRT54G is that video conferencing quit working. I'd get an error message stating something about the " network is unable to connect."

So, I disconnected the Linksys WRT54G and put back the old Linksys BEFW11S4 and, viola, video conferencing started working fine again. Switched back to the WRT54G, just to make sure, and sure enough, no video conferencing.

I've contacted Linksys support and they've given me the usual

run-around about upgrading to the latest firmware and turning on port
forwarding, etc. , etc. I finally cornered the tech when I told him
that I've upgraded the firmware, twice, and I'm at the latest version.
I also told him the video conferencing works fine on my BEFW11S4
without resorting to forwarding a bunch of ports (that's what UPnP is
suppose to do anyway). He finally admitted that they have a problem
with the WRT54G and that he would forward my concerns to a Product
Manager.

This doesn't solve your problem, but I hope it lets you know that it's probably not something you're doing wrong. Most likely it's a bug in the stupid router. I wish they would do a better job of Q&A (Quality and Assurance) testing before they release their products.

For now I've gone back to the older BEFW11S4 and video conferencing works fine. I've also tested just plugging straight into my DSL modem and leaving the BEFW11S4 out of the picture. That also works fine. But, since I have several computers in the house, I need the BEFW11S4 router connected to get them all on the internet.

Hope this has been helpful. I'm going to keep on Linksys to see if I can get them to fix the problem and release an updated firmware version. However, that may take many months of prodding to get them going. They're a very frustrating operation to work with.

Best of luck.

--Fitz

Hey,

Thanks for the news!

oj