WL sign in problem

Hi
On my XP SP3 machine, using ADSL router, I cannot usually sign in to my WL
Hotmail account or into Live Messenger. I say usually because last night I
managed to. Then I shut down and when I came back later I couldn't get in.

I first had the problem about 1 month ago, but my wife who has a separate
Windows account on the same machine didn't - until about a week ago.

I can hook a laptop up to the same router and sign in just fine.

I get the Hotmail login screen and can enter my username and pasword but it
times out when logging in.

Last night I couldn't even use Microsoft Update as it said it couldn't
connect - even though it got to the initial update page ok where you select
express or custom updates. I reset the Windows Firewall, and emptied the
browser cache but that didn't help. (I tried that last night and it worked
straight after but hasn't worked when I've tried the same tactic since).

I have suspicions its got something to do with AVG8 but can't find any
definite answers elsewhere on the web.

I've no other issues occuring with any other websites or software.

Greetings Casper,

I'm guessing here, but is it possible that your MTU is set too high? For instance, some
"tweaking" applications increase the MTU in an attempt to boost transfer speeds.

Might be worth popping open DrTCP to see if that might be the case:
http://www.dslreports.com/front/DRTCP021.exe

Also, is the routing doing the PPPoE connection to the DSL provider (assuming you're using
one that uses PPPoE)?

Of course, this is just a guess -- if that's not the case here, do you have any problems by
chance connecting to other "secure" websites?

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--




"Casper the Dog" <> wrote in message
news:78239FC6-0B2E-4A93-AAC9-...
> Hi
> On my XP SP3 machine, using ADSL router, I cannot usually sign in to my WL
> Hotmail account or into Live Messenger. I say usually because last night I
> managed to. Then I shut down and when I came back later I couldn't get in.
>
> I first had the problem about 1 month ago, but my wife who has a separate
> Windows account on the same machine didn't - until about a week ago.
>
> I can hook a laptop up to the same router and sign in just fine.
>
> I get the Hotmail login screen and can enter my username and pasword but it
> times out when logging in.
>
> Last night I couldn't even use Microsoft Update as it said it couldn't
> connect - even though it got to the initial update page ok where you select
> express or custom updates. I reset the Windows Firewall, and emptied the
> browser cache but that didn't help. (I tried that last night and it worked
> straight after but hasn't worked when I've tried the same tactic since).
>
> I have suspicions its got something to do with AVG8 but can't find any
> definite answers elsewhere on the web.
>
> I've no other issues occuring with any other websites or software.

Thanks

I ran Dr.TCP which reported the MTU as 1492. which I read elsewhere seems
about right. Is it?

"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:

> Greetings Casper,
>
> I'm guessing here, but is it possible that your MTU is set too high? For instance, some
> "tweaking" applications increase the MTU in an attempt to boost transfer speeds.
>
> Might be worth popping open DrTCP to see if that might be the case:
> http://www.dslreports.com/front/DRTCP021.exe
>
> Also, is the routing doing the PPPoE connection to the DSL provider (assuming you're using
> one that uses PPPoE)?
>
> Of course, this is just a guess -- if that's not the case here, do you have any problems by
> chance connecting to other "secure" websites?
>
> --
> Jonathan Kay
> Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
> MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
> MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
> Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
> (c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
> --
>
>
>
>
> "Casper the Dog" <> wrote in message
> news:78239FC6-0B2E-4A93-AAC9-...
> > Hi
> > On my XP SP3 machine, using ADSL router, I cannot usually sign in to my WL
> > Hotmail account or into Live Messenger. I say usually because last night I
> > managed to. Then I shut down and when I came back later I couldn't get in.
> >
> > I first had the problem about 1 month ago, but my wife who has a separate
> > Windows account on the same machine didn't - until about a week ago.
> >
> > I can hook a laptop up to the same router and sign in just fine.
> >
> > I get the Hotmail login screen and can enter my username and pasword but it
> > times out when logging in.
> >
> > Last night I couldn't even use Microsoft Update as it said it couldn't
> > connect - even though it got to the initial update page ok where you select
> > express or custom updates. I reset the Windows Firewall, and emptied the
> > browser cache but that didn't help. (I tried that last night and it worked
> > straight after but hasn't worked when I've tried the same tactic since).
> >
> > I have suspicions its got something to do with AVG8 but can't find any
> > definite answers elsewhere on the web.
> >
> > I've no other issues occuring with any other websites or software.
>
>
>

Success!
After a bit of experimentation setting the MTU at various levels I can now
log in to Hotmail and access updates manually with MTU set to 1400.

As I understand the MTU is the 'size' of the blocks of data the website will
allow. Is MS just picky? I had no problems with other sites when my MTU was
at 1492.

Thanks for the pointer Jonathan

"Casper the Dog" wrote:

> Thanks
>
> I ran Dr.TCP which reported the MTU as 1492. which I read elsewhere seems
> about right. Is it?
>
> "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:
>
> > Greetings Casper,
> >
> > I'm guessing here, but is it possible that your MTU is set too high? For instance, some
> > "tweaking" applications increase the MTU in an attempt to boost transfer speeds.
> >
> > Might be worth popping open DrTCP to see if that might be the case:
> > http://www.dslreports.com/front/DRTCP021.exe
> >
> > Also, is the routing doing the PPPoE connection to the DSL provider (assuming you're using
> > one that uses PPPoE)?
> >
> > Of course, this is just a guess -- if that's not the case here, do you have any problems by
> > chance connecting to other "secure" websites?
> >
> > --
> > Jonathan Kay
> > Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
> > MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
> > MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
> > Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
> > (c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
> > --
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > "Casper the Dog" <> wrote in message
> > news:78239FC6-0B2E-4A93-AAC9-...
> > > Hi
> > > On my XP SP3 machine, using ADSL router, I cannot usually sign in to my WL
> > > Hotmail account or into Live Messenger. I say usually because last night I
> > > managed to. Then I shut down and when I came back later I couldn't get in.
> > >
> > > I first had the problem about 1 month ago, but my wife who has a separate
> > > Windows account on the same machine didn't - until about a week ago.
> > >
> > > I can hook a laptop up to the same router and sign in just fine.
> > >
> > > I get the Hotmail login screen and can enter my username and pasword but it
> > > times out when logging in.
> > >
> > > Last night I couldn't even use Microsoft Update as it said it couldn't
> > > connect - even though it got to the initial update page ok where you select
> > > express or custom updates. I reset the Windows Firewall, and emptied the
> > > browser cache but that didn't help. (I tried that last night and it worked
> > > straight after but hasn't worked when I've tried the same tactic since).
> > >
> > > I have suspicions its got something to do with AVG8 but can't find any
> > > definite answers elsewhere on the web.
> > >
> > > I've no other issues occuring with any other websites or software.
> >
> >
> >

Hi,

Different ISPs have different settings and it is dependent on whatever router you hit as you
connect to various sites. However, with PPPoE (which again is typical for DSL), the size is
usually smaller than the norm, so it's not surprising you may have had to drop it.

Anyway, glad that's sorted out.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--


"Casper the Dog" <> wrote in message
news:F95AA4E5-A068-4512-8A6B-...
> Success!
> After a bit of experimentation setting the MTU at various levels I can now
> log in to Hotmail and access updates manually with MTU set to 1400.
>
> As I understand the MTU is the 'size' of the blocks of data the website will
> allow. Is MS just picky? I had no problems with other sites when my MTU was
> at 1492.
>
> Thanks for the pointer Jonathan
>
> "Casper the Dog" wrote:
>
>> Thanks
>>
>> I ran Dr.TCP which reported the MTU as 1492. which I read elsewhere seems
>> about right. Is it?
>>
>> "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:
>>
>> > Greetings Casper,
>> >
>> > I'm guessing here, but is it possible that your MTU is set too high? For instance, some
>> > "tweaking" applications increase the MTU in an attempt to boost transfer speeds.
>> >
>> > Might be worth popping open DrTCP to see if that might be the case:
>> > http://www.dslreports.com/front/DRTCP021.exe
>> >
>> > Also, is the routing doing the PPPoE connection to the DSL provider (assuming you're
>> > using
>> > one that uses PPPoE)?
>> >
>> > Of course, this is just a guess -- if that's not the case here, do you have any problems
>> > by
>> > chance connecting to other "secure" websites?
>> >
>> > --
>> > Jonathan Kay
>> > Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
>> > MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
>> > MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
>> > Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
>> > (c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
>> > --
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > "Casper the Dog" <> wrote in message
>> > news:78239FC6-0B2E-4A93-AAC9-...
>> > > Hi
>> > > On my XP SP3 machine, using ADSL router, I cannot usually sign in to my WL
>> > > Hotmail account or into Live Messenger. I say usually because last night I
>> > > managed to. Then I shut down and when I came back later I couldn't get in.
>> > >
>> > > I first had the problem about 1 month ago, but my wife who has a separate
>> > > Windows account on the same machine didn't - until about a week ago.
>> > >
>> > > I can hook a laptop up to the same router and sign in just fine.
>> > >
>> > > I get the Hotmail login screen and can enter my username and pasword but it
>> > > times out when logging in.
>> > >
>> > > Last night I couldn't even use Microsoft Update as it said it couldn't
>> > > connect - even though it got to the initial update page ok where you select
>> > > express or custom updates. I reset the Windows Firewall, and emptied the
>> > > browser cache but that didn't help. (I tried that last night and it worked
>> > > straight after but hasn't worked when I've tried the same tactic since).
>> > >
>> > > I have suspicions its got something to do with AVG8 but can't find any
>> > > definite answers elsewhere on the web.
>> > >
>> > > I've no other issues occuring with any other websites or software.
>> >
>> >
>> >