Why can't I have an Audio conversation using MSN Messenger?

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I want to blockMSN messengeron mynetwork. I hahe a firewall Linksys Model BEFSL41. Could you help me?

i have the following setup:
my computer is directly connected to the net using dsl.
my gf's computer connects to the internet through my computer, using microsoft's connection sharing. i disabled the built in firewall.

weird thing is that i can get video conversation with webcam, but no audio. sometimes i can hear people, but they can never hear me.

any idea of what i should do to make the audio working ?

Not offhand. The fundamental problem is that Internet Connection Sharing turns a computer into ... a NAT firewall. I used to run a Windows 2000 server using ICS *as* my NAT firewall here until I got my LinkSys router. It's a fairly reasonable solution, but as you can see, may have some of the downsides of a normal NAT router. At this point my only real suggestion is to get a uPNP enabled Router, and use that instead of ICS.

Best of luck!

Leo

MSN Mesaanger, I have a net gear DG824M Wireless asdl router, it has UPnP and it is enabled, i have upgraded MSN Messanger to 6.0 and Video works both ways, i can hear the person i am connecting to they can not hear me. The mic works (it records sound to the pc when i try it). Please help, i have found lots of conversations on the web about this probelm but all seem to say enable UPnP on the router and this i have done and it still does not work, any ideas. Spec stuff, PC is running XP, i have two wireless conections to the router one is a dexcape wirelss screen, the other is another PC running 2000 pro, on a compact wirelss card. Travers

I have yet to actually try this for myself but two things may be at play here: one make sure the plug & play service is running on the box running MSN messenger (it should be by default), and two is that you may then need to configure the router, either via a windows interface (the device may appear in the device manager, or in network connecitons), or via the router's native interface (usually browser based). As I said, my knowledge here is sketchy, but it appears that some routers may need additional configuration. And exactly what or how may vary by router.

In researching this, I did discover this fairly technical article out at tom's networking: http://ask-leo.com/r-30927d - it's a year and a half old, but if you follow the links through to his reviews of a couple of early uPNP routers, you'll see the locations and types of configuration screens that may apply to this situation.

Leo

Hi there. I have kind of the same problem with MSN audio conversation while video runs properly. I have XP and the eumex 704 PC LAN router. I looked up the configuration of the router and it never said anything about upnp. but I wondered if the possibility of IP-forwarding has something to do with it, or maybe the IP-spoofing option.

--Akuma--

As I understand it, simple port forwarding doesn't work, because they use different ports for the audio conversation each time. There's no way to configure those ports (though I'd love to be wrong about that). Part of what uPNP does is allow messenger to tell the router what ports to forward dynamically. If your router docs don't talk about upnp, it probably doesn't support it.

Leo

Great site. Thanks!

I have been experiencing the same problem forever. changed computers, changed connections, and it persists!

I had DSL connnected to an ethernet modem, the ethernet modem connected to a linksys router (wireless) and the client PC is windows 2000 ( connected with cat5 to the router)

I am always connected via VPN to my client network. The VPN connectin is NOT setup as gateway.

It all works fine, I can use their exchange on my Outlook and have my personal email on OE ( to keep the inboxes separated without relying on rules) , and it is all good, with the exception of MSNMG (6.1).

It keeps disconecting and connecting back. It doesn't advise me that it dosconeted. Even during text messageing sessions. If I am texte mesaging someone, all of a sudden I don't receive more answers and the other side deosn't receivemy msgs anymore, and it just looks like we stopped chatting. It doesn't interrupt the session or change my status to disconnected or anything. Some time later it will change my status to disconnected. I had IM and it happened with IM. I then got a new PC and put MSMMG 6.1 on it and it is stilll the case.

Make any sense to someone?

I have a problem with audio conversation. I have MS Messenger 6.1 installed...Windowss XP. I am using Smoothwall as my firewall/router but I am getting a message 'audio conversation has ended'.
Please help

I'd be tempted to get in touch with the smoothwall folks. There is a current (and recent) thread in their support forums discussing MSN Messenger problems, so I'd look at that as being the problem. http://ask-leo.com/d-smoothwall

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