Hotmail

[Kev]

Can anyone explain to me why on my computer i can axcess one hotmail account but not my other one?

Its the same computer, the same IP.

I can't figure out why i can use one account with no problem but if i try to log on to my other account i get "Timed Out."

Any ideas?

 

[luv-em-n-lv-em]

Sounds like it may be a problem at the Hotmail end. Maybe their site is under a denial-of-service attack or maybe some hardware failure has occurred. Not all failures will bring down all accounts. Maybe a hard drive that holds your mail went kablooey (don't worry - I'm sure they do frequent backups).

What was the last time you could access both accounts. Have you installed any software or hardware on your PC since then? It's possible that it could be your PC but timeouts are usually caused by problems at the other end.

I suggest you try a bit later or try from a different computer.

 

[luv-em-n-lv-em]

I just tried our family's 2 hotmail accounts and they work fine.

At what point in Hotmail does the time out occur? before you enter the id and password, just after, when reading an email etc.

I don't see any report of problems on microsoft.com, msn.com or google news.

The most interesting possible solution I saw is:

Play with numbers: Exactly how MSN Hotmail's load is distributed across the hundreds, if not thousands, of servers is a mystery. If you're able to log in you'll see addresses like this in your address bar:

http://by18fd.bay18.hotmail.msn.com
The numbers, 18 in this case, vary as MSN Hotmail distributes the load by assigning your session to specific servers.

In perhaps one of the most obscure ideas I've ever seen, one reader reports that changing the number (a 2, in his case, to a 23) resolved an issue after sign in. We have no way of knowing exactly what this does or why it might work, so it's difficult to recommend, but you might give it a try if you are able to sign in. Edit the url in the address bar, changing both numbers, and press enter. Who knows? It could work.

link: http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_resolve_my_msn_hotmail_sign_in_problems.html

I have successfully used the numbers 109 and 13

 

[Kev]

Sounds like it may be a problem at the Hotmail end. Maybe their site is under a denial-of-service attack or maybe some hardware failure has occurred. Not all failures will bring down all accounts. Maybe a hard drive that holds your mail went kablooey (don't worry - I'm sure they do frequent backups).

What was the last time you could access both accounts.A few days ago Have you installed any software or hardware on your PC since then? No It's possible that it could be your PC but timeouts are usually caused by problems at the other end.

I suggest you try a bit later or try from a different computer.

TY

I have been trying since yesterday morning to enter my email but i always get timed out and I still can't enter it. but the funny thing is I can connect to MSN messenger but not my email. Oh well...

Thats right. Me too.

I can also send an instant message, but can't open "My E-mail Inbox." Which has 1 unopened email from an adoring fan i expect.

 

[Kev]

At what point in Hotmail does the time out occur? before you enter the id and password, just after, when reading an email etc.

When i click on "MY E-mail Inbox." It doesn't open.

When i click on "Send An Instant Message" it shows if there is someone online.

I can log on just fine. The prompt comes up that i have a new email, and when i click on it it times out.

 

[vancouverman]

Couple ideas:

I'll assume you already have rebooted your PC, but make sure to reboot your modem, and your router ( you do have router...don't you ). The poewer off - on sequence is important .... modem first, and after it is fully up.. the router

Flush DNS: A reboot does this as well, but a quicker way to make sure that your computer is using the most current DNS information is to open a command shell, and enter the following command: ipconfig /flushdns

and finally.. the most important one .... get rid of IE ... get Firefox or something like that... will save you from lots of problems.


If you're using your free Hotmail account in Outlook Express, that might be the entire problem. Hotmail support in Outlook Express is being phased out. go here http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=878462 for more info.

and one more idea ... as bizare as it might sound it worked for one of my clients. Hotmail is spread across many servers. When I logon, I see
http://by107fd.bay100.hotmail.msn.com in my address bar. Looks like 100 is a server number. By changing 100 into a different number I was able to access hotmail with no problems. Play with this.

Arent computers fun?

Hope this will help you... if not .... you know where to find me.

 

[vancouverman]

When i click on "MY E-mail Inbox." It doesn't open.

When i click on "Send An Instant Message" it shows if there is someone online.

I can log on just fine. The prompt comes up that i have a new email, and when i click on it it times out.

hmmm ... I think I had seen it quite recently.
something to do with security and accepting cookies.
try to close all webbrowsers BEFORE you open MSN Messanger.

if this wont work, try to go directly to www.hotmail.com , and logon there ...
let me know what works

 

[luv-em-n-lv-em]

Arent computers fun?

Yeah, when they work. Which seems to be a problem whenever you really need things to go smoothly (like during a presentation!)

 

[luv-em-n-lv-em]

When i click on "MY E-mail Inbox." It doesn't open.

Based on that information, I'd reccomend that you try the suggestion about changing the numbers in the URL that both I and vancouverman have described. Once again, the numbers that worked for me in the last half hour were 109 and 13 (different numbers on each of 2 different hotmail accounts which may explain why 1 account works for you and the other doesn't and why some people aren't affected at all. Maybe hotmail associates each account with a specific number which would cause a problem if the server with your number had problems.)

If it doesn't work or something odd happens, please post and I will try to help some more. I like troubleshooting.

Good Luck.

 

[Kev]

hmmm ... I think I had seen it quite recently.
something to do with security and accepting cookies.
try to close all webbrowsers BEFORE you open MSN Messanger.

if this wont work, try to go directly to www.hotmail.com , and logon there ...
let me know what works

No none of that works vancouverman.

If this was a security and accepting cookies problem then i would assume that i wouldn't be able to axcess my other hotmail account. Which i can. After all its on the same computer with the same defaults. Why can i open one account but not the other?

_____________________________

And to the answer to your question from a previous post. (Which i forgot about until now) I am going for IPSC (Black Badge) in a few weeks. I blew up the barrel of my gun. (One of the pit falls of reloading.) It took almost a month from Para to get another one. So now i'm back at the range. I had a great session yesterday.

I have 3 weeks off starting Monday so i'll get lots of practise time in.

 

[Kev]

Based on that information, I'd reccomend that you try the suggestion about changing the numbers in the URL that both I and vancouverman have described. Once again, the numbers that worked for me in the last half hour were 109 and 13 (different numbers on each of 2 different hotmail accounts which may explain why 1 account works for you and the other doesn't and why some people aren't affected at all. Maybe hotmail associates each account with a specific number which would cause a problem if the server with your number had problems.)

If it doesn't work or something odd happens, please post and I will try to help some more. I like troubleshooting.

Good Luck.

I've tried doing some of your suggestions to no avail. This is part of the URL i see when i get timed out. ...md5auth.srf?lc=1033
If i change the last digit to a 2 it sends me to Russia. There are no 3 digit numbers in the URL i see.

Thanks i'll keep plugging away.

 

[shadowfx]

Are you accessing this account through outlook or through IE? If you are using the web based access through IE it could be that the password will is corrupt if you have it on auto save passwords. This is not a good feature to have turned on. It also might be a simple matter of clearing the cookies and your temporary are cached files. You may also want to try using Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org, it is a more secure browser then IE). If you can access it with Firefox and not IE it is an IE problem and go from there.

 

[luv-em-n-lv-em]

"md5auth" sounds like there is a problem in the sign-on. As far as I know md5 is an encryption method (probably used to validate your password securely) and "auth" suggest authorization which again probably realtes to sign-on.


When I go into hotmail i do and see the following:

type Hotmail.com and press Enter

the URL briefly shows a fairly long URL that says something starting with http://loginnet.passport.com

I then get the Sign In screen and the URL is http://login.passport.net/uilogin.srf?lc=1033&id=2

I type in my id including @hotmail.com at the end (it used to fill this in automatically a few days ago but that seems to have changed) and the password and press Enter

I then see the page that says Mailbox usage near the top of the screen with a horizontal bar graph. The URL now starts with http://by13fd.bay13.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/

from then on whatever I do in Hotmail the URL still starts with http://by13fd.bay13.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/


If you can produce something similar to this and describe what URL and screen contents you see at each point that may help.

 

[vancouverman]

And to the answer to your question from a previous post. (Which i forgot about until now) I am going for IPSC (Black Badge) in a few weeks. I blew up the barrel of my gun. (One of the pit falls of reloading.) It took almost a month from Para to get another one. So now i'm back at the range. I had a great session yesterday.

I have 3 weeks off starting Monday so i'll get lots of practise time in.

do you have time next week to go to the North Shore range?
(assuming you will not be busy fixing your hotmail access )

 

[luv-em-n-lv-em]

If you are using the web based access through IE it could be that the password will is corrupt if you have it on auto save passwords. This is not a good feature to have turned on.

If it is a password problem and you are using IE, it may be related to autocompletion. It is possible to clear the passwords but that would clear all of the passwords. If the only time you use passwords on websites is for Hotmail than this would be worth a try (assuming you know what your password should be). If you have other passwords and especially if you aren't sure you know them all (bad practice but most of us are bad that way) you may not want to do this.

The procedure would be (on IE 6 anyway):

- In IE click the Tools menu and select "Internet Options"

- click on the Content tab and then click the Autocomplete button.

- click the Clear Passwords button.

 

[Kev]

do you have time next week to go to the North Shore range?
(assuming you will not be busy fixing your hotmail access )

No this coming week i'm off to the island to visit relatives with my parents, but the week of August 1st we could hook up vancouverman. Go to the range maybe grab some lunch. Keep it in mind.

 

[Kev]

If it is a password problem and you are using IE, it may be related to autocompletion. It is possible to clear the passwords but that would clear all of the passwords. If the only time you use passwords on websites is for Hotmail than this would be worth a try (assuming you know what your password should be). If you have other passwords and especially if you aren't sure you know them all (bad practice but most of us are bad that way) you may not want to do this.

The procedure would be (on IE 6 anyway):

- In IE click the Tools menu and select "Internet Options"

- click on the Content tab and then click the Autocomplete button.

- click the Clear Passwords button.

Damned if i know but i clicked on the Autocomplete icon yesterday evening. When i tried hotmail this morning my account worked so thanx all.