Major Bizzare Problems receiving IMs

[byrneta]

I am having a very strange problem with AIM. I can send IMs fine and my buddies can recieve them with no problem. However, when I cannot recieve IMs properly when people attempt to IM me. Either I don't recieve them, or they are delayed by about a minute. can anyone help, please? this is a very frustrating problem

[Jeff]

What's your warning level? Anything higher than 0 will have some impact on your ability to send and/or receive IMs.

[qbaler]

That shouldnt effect the time it takes for a buddy to recieve. That would effect how long you have to wait before sending another message. Do you get any error? Have you done anything recently to aim? (Download an aim program, upgrade anything...)

[byrneta]

The warning level is 0. I tried to uninstall and then reinstall AIM with no luck. I also tried to connect to AIM through trillian, and the same problem occured. It is driving me crazy, thanks for any help!

[Fanatic]

Are you behind some kind of firewall or proxy? Are you using dial-up or broadband access? Are you at home or work?

[byrneta]

I am at college in a dorm. so I am guessing that it is firewalled. It is an ethernet connection. The internet seems to be working fine, but i'm wondering if it is just a little delayed like incoming IMs and I just can't notice it. I'm just wondering if anyone knows if the problem could be with my computer or with my connection. thanks for all the help!

[Jeff]

I've never seen anything that would cause the symptoms you're describing. Do other people in the dorm have the same problem? If not, I suggest you try logging in thru someone else's computer to see if it works fine there. If it does then you'll know that the problem is specific to either your computer or network connection.

[magistyk]

Ethernet connection? That still doesn't really answer the question, are you on Cable or a T1/T3?

[byrneta]

I am wondering if the network connection could be the source of the problems I'm having. the internet seems to work fine, so does that mean the connection is fine? In short is there any way I can know for sure whether my computer or the network is the problem. thanks a lot!

[Jeff]

The easiest thing to do is ask someone else in the dorm if it works for them! If it does, ask if you can login on their computer and try it. If it still gives you problems on their computer, even though it works fine for them, then the problem is with your account. If it behaves the same way for them as it does for you, then the problem is either with the network (unlikely) or the firewall or proxy used by the school (more likely). If it works for you on the other computer, then the problem (as previously stated) is most likely your computer or (somewhat less likely) your connection.

You've never told us... What is your computer configuration?