5punk

Windows Live Messenger seems to completely fuck over my router as of this week. Fista or XP, it renders my PC incapable of getting an IP from it and requires a router reset to fix.

How odd, tried trillian or gaim?

The XP built-in Windows Messenger is okay, it's just the Windows Live (was MSN) one that breaks everything. It's post an XP Windows Update where I selected everything, but uninstalling WLM only has fixed it.

Haven't experimented in Fista yet.

very odd, I've have no trouble with whatever versions of WLM I've had (on xp, Fista and 7)

Possibly some spazzed part of the install was causing it to hammer your router with crap? Re-install of wlm help?

Same in Fista - everything's fine until WLM tries to connect, then I lose my IP and only a router reset gets it back.

The XP install of it was a fresh one to test if that was the problem, which it turned out it was.

It's not some weird upnp oddity or something is it?

Tried older/newer versions of wlm?

Router firmware?

Just installed Windows Messenger 5.1 under Fista, that's fine and works. Seems only latest WU version of Windows Live Messenger has the issue. Old version has all the functionality I need.

Wouldn't be the first time MS has fucked over Netgear, had to replace my first ever router when an XBox patch made it reset constantly.

Tear it out completely maybe? registry, firewall exceptions etc etc?

Router settings seem unlikely as a source given the normal functioning of everything else. Possibly something on the router side has gone funky, like pnp or some random old reserved port number been messed up?

I'm not bothered enough to try every combo, as berk mentioned in his first post, there's plenty of alternatives - it's more a placeholder/warning in case anyone else hits the issue, given it's only just started this week.

It's probably router-specific, though - which a gratuitous firmware patch might fix, though I'm rather leery of those as my description thereof implies.