Windows messenger audio/video problems

[Alan White]

I am running XP Pro and have Service Pack 2 installed.
I am behind a Linksys router and have the Windows XP firewall enabled with
an exception for Windows Messenger and have enabled UPnP.

I can exchange messages OK, voice works but no video.

I have tried to forward UDP ports 5004-65535 to the IP of my computer on the
LAN.

I can't get the video to work and would love someone to tell me where I have
gone wrong.(When I run the audio wizard, the video works fine.)
Should I kill the UPnP or forward different ports???

Your help would be appreciated.

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Alan,

Video and Audio are essentially the same component connectivity-wise within Windows
Messenger, so can you be more specific about "no video" -- will video just not connect or are
you seeing a black screen...?
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.

 

[Alan White]

It won't connect. The dialogue box at the bottom of the screen says
"connecting etc..." but does not make any connection at all.

 

[Joel Estes]

It seems to be broken at the moment.

Joel

It won't connect. The dialogue box at the bottom of the screen says
"connecting etc..." but does not make any connection at all.

 

[reubenkerben]

I have the same exact problem. i initiate the "start
camera" i have set up and configured everything within
windows messenger however it says connecting and it
doesnt work.

 

[Hambone]

Same here again, but I cant even get the voice conversation to work.
Identical problem, says its "connecting to" etc and then eventually
fails. Simple text messaging works.

I have a netgear FWG114P router, and have enabled UPnP. I have also
upgraded to Windows Messenger 5.0, though I see no UPnP configurable
seetings there either.

I have Norton software firewall, but disabling this has no effect.

What can I do ?

 

[Alan White]

Hopefully Jonathan Kay (MVP) will see this thread and reply again.
Apparently this is a common problem of not being able to connect.
Linksys tells me to upgrade the firmware on the router, but I can't see that
being of any help.
I did have it working some months ago, but only when I called out - it
wouldn't connect with someone trying to connect to me.

 

[Guest]

Anyone.... Anyone.....???

I have had the no video/audio connect problem for quite some time, and have
read many forums in search of an answer.

Interestingly enough, they usually progess and end like this one.

Once its been established that UPnP is enabled in NAT Routers and software
firewalls have been disabled, and audio/video connections still can't be
established, no further advice is offered.

It seems that no one has a solution for this very frustrating problem.
Judging from my prior forum searches, this is not an uncommon issue and it
goes back at least a year.

AFAIK, MS does not have much information on this issue, except "turn on
UPnP." Great.

Currently, I have:
- WinXP SP2;
- WRT54G Linksys router with the most recent firmware; UPnP is enabled and
QoS is disabled;
- Windows Firewall with Messenger and UPnP exceptions; and
- disabled QoS services.

When troubleshooting, I have tried turning off all firewalls, and tried
opening up the suggested ports...

Still, no joy.

Is there any other reasonably priced, third party software available for
audio/video conferencing?

Sorry for the rant, but I've really had enough of this problem.

Thanks.
John

 

[Toby Newman]

Is there any other reasonably priced, third party software available for

audio/video conferencing?

Sorry for the rant, but I've really had enough of this problem.

Thanks.
John

Teamspeak. Free. Good!

 

[Stephen Harris]

Anyone.... Anyone.....???

I have had the no video/audio connect problem for quite some time, and
have
read many forums in search of an answer.

Interestingly enough, they usually progess and end like this one.

Once its been established that UPnP is enabled in NAT Routers and software
firewalls have been disabled, and audio/video connections still can't be
established, no further advice is offered.

It seems that no one has a solution for this very frustrating problem.
Judging from my prior forum searches, this is not an uncommon issue and it
goes back at least a year.

AFAIK, MS does not have much information on this issue, except "turn on
UPnP." Great.

Currently, I have:
- WinXP SP2;
- WRT54G Linksys router with the most recent firmware; UPnP is enabled and
QoS is disabled;
- Windows Firewall with Messenger and UPnP exceptions; and
- disabled QoS services.

When troubleshooting, I have tried turning off all firewalls, and tried
opening up the suggested ports...

Still, no joy.

Is there any other reasonably priced, third party software available for
audio/video conferencing?

Sorry for the rant, but I've really had enough of this problem.

Thanks.
John

I imagine you have seen the cause of the problem. Some ISP's
provide Nat'd service which UPnP cannot traverse.

I like the combo of skype (free) and the Messenger webcam
for win xp. RealTunnel provides audio for win98.

 

[Guest]

Toby: Thanks for the tip - I'll check Teamspeak out.

Stephen:

Yes.... I ran across this explanation in an old MS Knowledge base article
describing how Messenger's architecture works. The article provided far
more detail than I could adsorb, but mentioned (as I recall) something called
cascaded NAT networks which may cause problems. However, the article said
UPnP should address this obstacle. As I said, was an older article, and
perhaps overly optimistic regarding UPnP's capabilites.

Anyway, it would be great to get an authoratative explanation for the
problem, and know if MS is working on a solution.

Thanks again for the replies.
John

 

[Guest]

JohnV,

I have the same problem and what makes it more frustrating is that mine used
to work very well, and then all of the sudden, it stopped. And the two people
I used to video with can't get theirs to work either. It's as if something in
the "internet" has changed I am using messenger 5.1, Linksys BEFW11S4 with
1.45.1 firmware/UPnp Enabled, and Win XP Pro SP2.

Did you ever figure it out???

 

[Guest]

I've got the same problem and found a possible solution at this site:

http://staff.onlinesupport.ca/dfleming/linksys/linksys.html

The info. is for a linksys BEFSR41 Router but should work with other
routers. Basically he says to (on the router), ENABLE the "Block WAN
Requests" apply changes, then Forward Ext. Port 6891 to 6900 (TCP) and apply
changes.

That information along with enabling UPnP Framework on WinXp may work. I
haven't tried it yet because I can't find anyone to test it with.

 

[Guest]

Greg P.

Ironically, once I installed SP 2 on both machines participating in the
video session, it unexpectedly started working. I have no idea why, but I
assumed some bug was fixed in SP. Unfortunately, remote assistance stopped
working, which was the real reason why I was trying to get this mess to work.

I've pretty much given upon this software, and I am looking for a comercial
product.

Sorry I could not help out any further.

J