HELP: Live messenger 8.5 hangs 20 seconds after launch (again!)

I thought this issue was resolved months ago, but now, magically it has
returned. This appears to defy all logic to me, please help:

ISSUE: Windows Live Messenger 8.5 hangs about 20 seconds after launch. Does
not recover.

SYSTEM: Win XP SP2, Ie7. MSN build 8.1.0178.00

NOTES:
* repro's 100% of the time
* Happen's whether I log into the service or not. In other words at Launch +
20 seconds, it will hang even at the sign-in screen. If I log in quickly, I
see my contacts, then it hangs
* This happened a few months ago, I couldn't resolve the issue. Then tried
again a few weeks later, and it magically went away!? I've been using
messenger w/o incident for a few months until issue returned last night.
* No WAY this could be a router issue. This worked until last night! I
haven't installed any new software on my PC at all.
* I am still able to login to Live Messenger network via Trillian on same
machine.

WHAT I TRIED (and hasn't worked)
1. Rebooting
2. Removing %userprofile%\Contacts\[LiveIDNameFolder] and
also removing %userprofile%\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\messenger

Please Help! Totally stumped how this issue can come and go like this. Is
there a way to debug it?

brandon

It sounds like it may be having conflicts with a background program. (you
know how everybody wants to stick stuff in your system tray for just about
every piece of hardware and software you install, whether yuo asked for it or
not)
And it may not be new software, just something that's used occasionally.

I had similar problems once with that "tkbell" that Real Player puts to
start up in the registry every time it runs.

I use a program that Mike lin wrote called Startup Monitor that alerts you
to when that happens and you can decide whether to allow the change or not.

But first you need to narrow down what all is running on you system now, get
rid of what you don't need to run in the background and see if that fixes it.
If not, at least your system will handle better overall.

Take care and good luck,
Keith Hailey

"Brandon M" wrote:

> I thought this issue was resolved months ago, but now, magically it has
> returned. This appears to defy all logic to me, please help:
>
> ISSUE: Windows Live Messenger 8.5 hangs about 20 seconds after launch. Does
> not recover.
>
> SYSTEM: Win XP SP2, Ie7. MSN build 8.1.0178.00
>
> NOTES:
> * repro's 100% of the time
> * Happen's whether I log into the service or not. In other words at Launch +
> 20 seconds, it will hang even at the sign-in screen. If I log in quickly, I
> see my contacts, then it hangs
> * This happened a few months ago, I couldn't resolve the issue. Then tried
> again a few weeks later, and it magically went away!? I've been using
> messenger w/o incident for a few months until issue returned last night.
> * No WAY this could be a router issue. This worked until last night! I
> haven't installed any new software on my PC at all.
> * I am still able to login to Live Messenger network via Trillian on same
> machine.
>
> WHAT I TRIED (and hasn't worked)
> 1. Rebooting
> 2. Removing %userprofile%\Contacts\[LiveIDNameFolder] and
> also removing %userprofile%\Local Settings\Application
> Data\Microsoft\messenger
>
> Please Help! Totally stumped how this issue can come and go like this. Is
> there a way to debug it?
>
> brandon
>
>

Yeah, I've informally been trying that too - killing off background
processes... but nothing's working. It's just that I hadn't installed
anything new...unless some app silently upgraded itself & broke me.

I'll try that app you mentioned.

Brandon

"Keith_Hailey" wrote:

> It sounds like it may be having conflicts with a background program. (you
> know how everybody wants to stick stuff in your system tray for just about
> every piece of hardware and software you install, whether yuo asked for it or
> not)
> And it may not be new software, just something that's used occasionally.
>
> I had similar problems once with that "tkbell" that Real Player puts to
> start up in the registry every time it runs.
>
> I use a program that Mike lin wrote called Startup Monitor that alerts you
> to when that happens and you can decide whether to allow the change or not.
>
> But first you need to narrow down what all is running on you system now, get
> rid of what you don't need to run in the background and see if that fixes it.
> If not, at least your system will handle better overall.
>
> Take care and good luck,
> Keith Hailey
>
> "Brandon M" wrote:
>
> > I thought this issue was resolved months ago, but now, magically it has
> > returned. This appears to defy all logic to me, please help:
> >
> > ISSUE: Windows Live Messenger 8.5 hangs about 20 seconds after launch. Does
> > not recover.
> >
> > SYSTEM: Win XP SP2, Ie7. MSN build 8.1.0178.00
> >
> > NOTES:
> > * repro's 100% of the time
> > * Happen's whether I log into the service or not. In other words at Launch +
> > 20 seconds, it will hang even at the sign-in screen. If I log in quickly, I
> > see my contacts, then it hangs
> > * This happened a few months ago, I couldn't resolve the issue. Then tried
> > again a few weeks later, and it magically went away!? I've been using
> > messenger w/o incident for a few months until issue returned last night.
> > * No WAY this could be a router issue. This worked until last night! I
> > haven't installed any new software on my PC at all.
> > * I am still able to login to Live Messenger network via Trillian on same
> > machine.
> >
> > WHAT I TRIED (and hasn't worked)
> > 1. Rebooting
> > 2. Removing %userprofile%\Contacts\[LiveIDNameFolder] and
> > also removing %userprofile%\Local Settings\Application
> > Data\Microsoft\messenger
> >
> > Please Help! Totally stumped how this issue can come and go like this. Is
> > there a way to debug it?
> >
> > brandon
> >
> >

Greetings Brandon,

> * No WAY this could be a router issue.

May I ask why? What you're describing is the classic router issue with Messenger and since
it "just disappeared" (aka, your router might have reset itself) and it just appeared (which
means the router is doing something that Messenger doesn't expect).

If you are using a router, just give it a power reset and see what happens.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2007 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
--

Oh my GOD... Jonathan is right. The strange thing is, I remember resetting my
router 3 different times the last time this problem cropped up. Strangely, it
now works fine after a router reboot.

So that's at least a way to fix this issue. If you are experiencing weird
hangs in MSN/Live messenger on launch, reboot your router. Not sure why this
is the ONLY IM client that has this issue (likely some sort of
sensitivity/bug) but at least this fixes it.

Thanks, Jonathan.
Brandon

"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:

> Greetings Brandon,
>
> > * No WAY this could be a router issue.
>
> May I ask why? What you're describing is the classic router issue with Messenger and since
> it "just disappeared" (aka, your router might have reset itself) and it just appeared (which
> means the router is doing something that Messenger doesn't expect).
>
> If you are using a router, just give it a power reset and see what happens.
>
> --
> Jonathan Kay
> Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
> Associate Expert
> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
> Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
> All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2007 Jonathan Kay.
> You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
> --
>
>
>
>