I sometimes have trouble getting into chat... (the browser says 'applet started', but the applet never loads)

I was thinking this was due to my corporate firewall, but sometimes I can get into chat on the same computer, on the same network connection.

When I can't get in, retrying doesn't seem to help. And when I can get in, I usually can do so on the first try.

I have tried clearing my cache, clearing my cookies, and rebooting, but it seems like access to chat is a crapshoot.

Anyone have any suggestions?

das, you seem to be having the same problems our guest speakers have from behind their firewalls. Sometimes they can get in right away, on the first try, and later they can't at all. Sometimes even only hours apart...

With our guest speakers, it's their firewalls/proxies. The chat product we use (DigiChat) uses Java and requires a constant connection. Both of these factors cause problems due to instability inherent with internet connections and Java's high-overhead nature.

Some chat products offer a "lite" version that uses less Java, but none that we looked at offer as nice of a moderated functionality (if any at all) or the other built-in features.

You're already doing what I'd recommend doing, as far as troubleshooting goes, which is (1) clear your cache, (2) reboot your system. If those steps don't help (and you have the latest Java Virtual Machine installed), there's not much else I can suggest, other than trying to access from a connection outside your firewall (as in a fax or other phone line), but I'm sure that's not an option at work.