Failed To Connect To Lobby

User-to-user help and troubleshooting.
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Valthir
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:32 pm

Post by Valthir »

Windows Version (and Service Packs): Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) (Not sure what SP. DXDiag didn't give it to me.)
Processor Speed: 2.80 GHz
RAM: 1022 MB
Video Card (Make and Model#): NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE
Sound Card (Make and Model#): SigmaTel Audio
Connection Type (Dialup, Cable, DSL, other):
Modem (Make and Model#):
Router (Make and Model#): WRT54G Wireless-G Broadband Router
Internet Service Provider(company name): Mediacom
Location(State/Province/Locality, and Country): GA, USA
Installed Mods: None

Make and Version of firewall: Windows Firewall
Make and version of anti-virus: AVG Free

Confirm that you have the following installed:

* .Net 2.0 [X]



Problem Encountered at Step #: 8
Which Program (ASGS/Allegiance): Allegiance
What Error Message: "Failed to connect to the lobby."
Comments (What you tried, description, etc): I've tried to portforward ports 2300 - 2400, but to no avail. I've also tried to portforward port 80, but the same thing continued to occur.
FreeBeer
Posts: 10902
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2005 8:00 am
Location: New Brunswick, Canada

Post by FreeBeer »

Thanks for using the template! It really helps nail things down faster.

As for which Service Pack you're running: In XP, go to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. Double-Click on the System Icon/Image. The General tab will provide that information. We need Service Pack 2 or better. (I'm running 3, myself.)

If that checks out, the next thing to do is check your AV program. Make sure that Allegiance is cleared (or given an exception) to connect. Once that is done, reboot. Sometimes these rules don't take effect until after a reboot. Oh... you can dump all the port forwarding stuff in your router if they're still active. We don't need that anymore. :)

AFAIK, AVG on XP is ok. (Some AV programs give us fits and can't be used.) However, with all the updates, etc. we often can't keep up with all the changes. What used to work may no longer work. :( Anyway, give those things a shot and report back with your results.

And welcome to the game! :thumbsup:
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Valthir
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:32 pm

Post by Valthir »

I'm running SP3 and AVG Free checks out good and I have an exception for Allegiance on there
FreeBeer
Posts: 10902
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2005 8:00 am
Location: New Brunswick, Canada

Post by FreeBeer »

ok... I just want to double-check one thing: When you click on Free Games, do you get a scrolling Message of the Day? If not, then make sure that Internet Explorer (yes, even if you don't ever use it :P ) has the "Work Offline" unchecked. That's found under the File menu.

Have you ever had any other AV installed on the machine - like McAfee or Norton? These are often included with a computer when first purchased and work only for a limited time. Once they're expired people often uninstall them and use something else. However, these programs don't fully uninstall and there's still a snippet of code hanging around to cause much frustration. Could this be the case with you?

The only other thing I can recommend at this point is to temporarily uninstall your AV. Reboot Then check if you can connect. If you can, then it probably had something to do with that AV program. We can then look into solutions to get that AV back up and running for you while playing nice with Allegiance.
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Valthir
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:32 pm

Post by Valthir »

IE does work because I do get MOTD and no, there aren't any other programs like McAfee or Norton on there. I completely uninstalled both AVG and Free Allegiance and rebooted. Upon startup, I installed Free Allegiance and started it up. And the same thing happened. Everything is fine until I try and connect to the lobby >.<
FreeBeer
Posts: 10902
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2005 8:00 am
Location: New Brunswick, Canada

Post by FreeBeer »

Hmm... weird. Basically that particular error is telling us that *something* is blocking Allegiance from accessing our lobby (and therefore the game servers). Normally this is an Anti-virus thing. You're sure there's never been another AV program installed on the machine at any time? (even if you think it's been uninstalled?)

There are other possibilities, but they're pretty rare which I why I'm exploring your end of things. It's also possible that your ISP (or if you're at a school, the school) is blocking those ports too. It's rare, but it happens.
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Valthir
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:32 pm

Post by Valthir »

I'm at home and I don't think my ISP is blocking it, though it may be. And I'm pretty sure that there hasn't been some other kind of virus protection software on there. So I'm at a complete loss as to what is causing the blockage. I'm actually thinking about just giving up.
Orion
Posts: 1733
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2003 7:00 am
Location: Planet Min·ne·so·ta
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Post by Orion »

Do you happen to have VPN access anywhere? In the past players who have had their ISPs block their access were able to get around it with a VPN, that would at least help you to diagnose the issue.
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