Looks like Microsoft's recent upgrading of Messenger for Mac to version 6 didn't go down as smoothly as they would have liked. Microsoft's own Messenger newsgroup is just one of the places buzzing with people having problems logging in.
I found this out while struggling through this jungle of versions myself. Going from 5.1.1 to 6.0.0 locked me out of the service, with only a typically vague error message to guide me. To make matters worse, I was able to log in to the fancy new Windows Live Messenger on PC. Trashing my preferences and going back to previous versions did nothing, and Google wasn't much more helpful. That was around the time I stumbled on to the newsgroup.
In the end, my solution was simple enough - I changed my admittedly weak Passport password to something a little more robust and, voila, I was in.
Are any of you having similar problems? Let me know in the comments if so and what workarounds you've found.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-03-2006 @ 8:54PM
Michael Rogers said...
No problems here.
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10-03-2006 @ 9:30PM
dino said...
Haven't had any problems myself.
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10-03-2006 @ 9:32PM
spil said...
Does every one use this or something? I have never met anyone with a MSN messenger account, but have heard it is the world's largest instant messaging service.
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10-03-2006 @ 9:34PM
josh said...
yes! been having lots of trouble getting this to work on my girlfriends macbook. tried re-installing a couple of times, but to no avail. works fine on my G5 imac tho... change password you reckon?
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10-03-2006 @ 9:40PM
Ryan said...
spil - everyone in New Zealand uses MSN. I dont think many people outside of the US use AIM, and yahoo just isn't popular here.
Ive heard its the same in europe too. I could use adium, but i dont really see the point as 100% of the people i know who use IM use MSN.
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10-03-2006 @ 9:46PM
spil said...
Thanks, Ryan!
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10-03-2006 @ 9:51PM
hesse said...
use adium.
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10-03-2006 @ 9:55PM
Mark said...
Everyone in Canada uses MSN too. I say it's a scourge on the Internet. I'm forced to use it and hate every moment of it. Luckily I can use Adium, it's not nearly as obnoxious.
I think I really hate it because they've been so lax on upgrades. The last two "major" updates have been completely minor. All the while Ros, head of the MS Mac group practically touts it as the largest accomplishment since Windows XP.
Brutal.
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10-03-2006 @ 10:15PM
Jon said...
I think people use it because it's bundled with Windows and they don't want to look for an alternative. This then ties other users to it because most of the people they know use it.
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10-03-2006 @ 10:20PM
Rob said...
If I leave mine connected for too long it logs me off from some strange reason.. I think I'm gonna get rid of it and go back to using adium
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10-03-2006 @ 10:37PM
Ed said...
Ryan: you're right, MSN is by far the most popular IM in the UK and the rest of Europe. I've never met anyone in the UK who uses another IM network actually...
The thing about IM and social networking tools is they're viral - you get what your friend has (for obvious reasons).
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10-03-2006 @ 10:59PM
Faisal said...
yes been having lots of trouble.. but whene i creat a new account on my computer it works with no troubles in the new account.. but with old one same problem keep siningin without error msg. or stop
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10-03-2006 @ 11:53PM
Dan said...
Have you tried Meebo? It's a really nifty multi-client web-based IM service. Access to all of your messaging services from any web browser. (At least, any modern browser, including Safari!)
And the Meebo Me widget is very cool as well. You can put it on your blog/web site and people can message you directly from the site. People who never message me pop up periodically and talk to me when they're visiting our family blog.
No affiliation with Meebo - I just really like it.
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10-04-2006 @ 12:49AM
Andres said...
# 3. Dude, where do you live?
98% of the people I know uses MSN Messenger. It is IT. Too bad IT sucks.
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10-04-2006 @ 2:17AM
Lee said...
I changed my password but MSN still doesn't let me in. A non hotmail account just doesn't fit in the whole Live concept I guess. Meebo gets teh job done.
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10-04-2006 @ 4:14AM
Kyle Nilson said...
MSN is work critical for me. While some of the features in 6 are nice, none of them apply for the particular SIP corporate server I'm on, as they keep it "barebones".
If you're a corporate user, you don't seem to have a big reason to upgrade.
Oh... Adium doesn't support corporate MSN encryption. (If it does, PLEASE correct me)
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10-04-2006 @ 5:21AM
Sean said...
No problems here on my PB G4.
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10-04-2006 @ 5:28AM
Dominic Yates said...
I use AIM/.Mac for all my cool friends and those who are not cool I talk to on MSN using Jabber within iChat
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10-04-2006 @ 10:14AM
Melvin said...
This sucks!! I have had problems non stop since upgrading. I have to constatly cycle between two accounts to login. File Transfer is horribly slow when it actually works. Strange, if I can't login with the account on MSN it won't login on Adium either for some time. I hope they fix it ASAP.
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10-04-2006 @ 10:17AM
mikeWhyment said...
It keeps crashing every 2 mins. on my PB G4
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