The message is not red, it is black like everything else.

Here: http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/5592/byondml3.jpg

I unsure if I understand the last question.

Could I see how your Applications and gaming set up looks like?
Did you try setting the HUB address to 67.228.127.154 (in order to avoid DNS resolving)?

No need to apologise, it's a tricky issue and you're doing great from all I can see here so far!

When you open a DOS shell, type ipconfig and hit enter, what does it show you as IP-address?
What happens when you type ping byond1.byond.com and hit enter?

As you're using Windows XP, you should have something called Command Prompt under Accessories.
That is called a DOS shell.
Sorry, would have mentioned it before, but I had to ask what it's called in the English installation first.

I think we're starting to narrow it down.
You have no problem resolving the DNS and can reach (ping) the BYOND hub server, so it is no such issue.
You have set and forwarded port and IP correct with both your router and BYOND, so that should work.

The only related problem left could be that the port is already in use, highly unlikely, but well, better try now.
Set the forwarded port range to 12000-12005 and set the port in the BYOND preferences to 12003.

If BYOND still fails to work for you, it is likely a problem related to your firewall.

Did you check all three firewalls, Nortons, Windows and your routers to allow byond.exe, dreamseeker.exe, and dreamdaemon.exe, or to be switched off?
Did you double check if there is version numbers involved in any of the firewalls?

Lummox JR wrote:

The files byond.exe, dreamseeker.exe, and dreamdaemon.exe all need to be able to access the Internet. If your firewall does any version checking like using a hash to tell if the program has been changed at all, you should turn that feature off for these programs since that will mess up any future updates.

Pentadragon wrote:

I temporarily turned off my Norton firewall to check although I am almost certain I went through the process of allowing BYOND passage earlier.

Here is my router's security settings currently:

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/2747/byondwc2.jpg

Windows Firewall is also currently off.

Try BYOND without setting a hub address. I don't know what, but that sometimes causes problems. I noticed it with my own computer having manually set a hub address.

You should never have to apologise, customer is king ;)

I'm starting to run out of ideas though, so I'll have to resort to the happy guessing game.

Do other games (non BYOND, non browser games) run fine for you, meaning that they can connect and allow you to play on-line?

Try connecting with a random key (like mine, or Tiberath without knowing the password) and then try again with your key. That once was a workaround for a bug I had with the HUB, don't ask me why or how it worked though :(

Pentadragon wrote:

Still no results. My apologies.

Shouldn't apologise for having a problem. If anything the challenge is fun, at least for me, I'm sure it's beyond frustrating for you.

Could the problem be related to the fact that I cannot open dream seeker?

All games are ran through the pager, and it opens dream seeker for you. So unless you're manually executing dream seeker, it's really the pager that has a problem.

The best option I can give now, is pretty much application error 101: Complete Reinstall. You'll need to be in an administrative account for this.

To do this, we're going to delete every trace of BYOND on your computer. The installer and all. So run the uninstaller for the program and uninstall it. Now go to it's install directory and delete any remaining folders. Swing by My Documents and delete the BYOND folder there, (If it isn't there, go to start, select run, and type %appdata% and delete it if it's there.)

Now, for the registry keys. Click start, open up run, and type in Regedit. Regedit is not a toy, do not go messing around in it unless you know what you're doing.

Click on the expand box for HKEY_CURRENT_USER, then expand the folder for Software. In there you'll find a folder for Dantom. This set of registry values contains your key data and your installation path. Select the dantom folder and delete it.

Now hide HKEY_CURRENT_USER, and expand the folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, from here expand the folder SOFTWARE. Scroll down until you find the folder dantom and delete it.

You're now free to close Regedit. Now, it should be like BYOND was never installed on your computer in the first place. With the exception to router and firewall ports.

Now you need to go to http://www.byond.com/download/ and download the latest .exe version.

Reinstallation will put back any deleted registry keys and with any luck, whatever's broken should now be fixed.

Do you have any word for us on this issue?

Pentadragon wrote:

My apologies for not replying sooner. I was away.

I did as told but there was nothing in Regedit. I searched but was unable to find.

Then I'm willing to estimate that's the reason why you've been having problems. Hopefully, reinstalling the software under an administrative account will solve all your problems.