IM alerts not working

[trekkn]

Previously, Im message alerts sounded every time I received an Im no matter the circumstances - Messenger window up or closed, Im window open, minimized, or behind another application window. Now it does not sound when the Im window is open. In other words, once I receive the initial Im and the Im window is open, subsequent messages received from that person in the same Im window no longer generate an alert ring. The only way to walk away from the computer is to minimize the window to cause the alert to sound. Can anybody help? I'm running a PIII, 733 Intel processor, Win98 SE, Yahoo Messenger 7,0,2,120

[MartinBradley]

Check the Alerts and Sounds in the Preferences section. Try disabling them and re-enabling them, and checking that each alert's settings are correct.

[sweetpeach]

Hello, Trekkn. I had the same problem with msn. I'm not sure if it's coincidence or not, but at the same time, I noticed too that I could not click from one window to another on my screen, but had to shrink the top window, then the next to get to the last window. A quick fix was to do a restore to 2 days prior to when this started happening. From "start", click "help and support" and choose "undo harmful changes to your system". These may differ in wording, based on your system. Click "system restore" then "restore my computer to an earlier time". You can pick which date you'd like to take your system back; you will not lose any updates, d/loads, etc...you had currently done. If you change your mind, you can always "undo" your restore. I'm not sure this is the best answer, but it solved my problem.

[trekkn]

I tried disabling sounds and then re-enabling them, even rebooting in between ... no change. All the individual items are correct with a sound being selected. As I said, the sound alert for IM's works when there is no IM window open or one is minimized, but once the IM window is open, none of the subsequent sends from that person cause an alert to sound as it did before.

[trekkn]

Sweetpeach, thanks for the idea, but as far as I know, WIn98 doesn't have a restore feature. The alert issue is the only one I'm having a problem with. Not having the window problem you mentioned you were having.

[sweetpeach]

No problem, trekkn
I thought it may have been coincidental that my multiple windows problem happened the same time my msn IM didn't 'bing' either. Good luck to you!

[Nessa]

Originally Posted by trekkn

I tried disabling sounds and then re-enabling them, even rebooting in between ... no change. All the individual items are correct with a sound being selected. As I said, the sound alert for IM's works when there is no IM window open or one is minimized, but once the IM window is open, none of the subsequent sends from that person cause an alert to sound as it did before.

The sound alert only works if the IM window isn't active (what i mean by active is when your cursor is currently in the IM box) The sound will only go off if your cursor is somewhere other than the IM box, which is why for you it only works the first time they IM you or when it's minimized (because they are inactive, so Yahoo is letting you know they are calling you). So if you want it to keep alerting you, click somewhere other than the IM box after typing and the alert should sound. Hope this helps.