Troubleshooting Windows Phone 8: Can't connect to chat

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Last updated: 13/12/2013

Today, at random, the built-in messaging on my Lumia 920 stopped working!

Throughout the day, all I got was a “Can’t connect to chat” message.

I engaged with both Optus (my mobile service provider) and Windows Phone Support on Twitter.

Since all my other data dependent apps and features were working on the phone, it was immediately clear that this wasn’t an Optus issue.

Windows Phone Support was very helpful and suggested a few things and I tried a few things as well. Peter Murphy (of AusWinPhone) also tried to help and it was during the course of our conversation that I was able to find a solution. Thanks Peter 🙂

A factory reset was not an option and I was not going to try it unless I was left with no other choice.

Here are some of the things I tried before I hit the jackpot 🙂

On Windows Phone, under messaging settings, set chat status to “offline” and then back to “available”

This is the first thing to try and usually works, but not this time.

DID NOT WORK

On Windows Phone, turn off “Use Facebook Chat”

DID NOT WORK

On Windows Phone, remove Facebook account from under email+accounts

I did this and even restarted the phone before adding the Facebook account back on the phone.

DID NOT WORK

On your PC, visit profile.live.com and remove Facebook account, then setup Facebook on Windows Phone

Go to https://account.live.com/Permissions and select “Manage other accounts”.

Select Facebook and then click on “Remove this connection completely” and follow instructions.

NOTE: If you previously removed your account from the Phone and didn’t add it back, you will not see this option. In my situation, I didn’t have to do this step.

DID NOT ATTEMPT

On Windows Phone, remove Facebook account, enable Airplane mode on and WiFi (no 3G/data connection) and then add Facebook account

Enabled Airplane mode under Settings. Enabled WiFi. Restarted phone and added Facebook account.

DID NOT WORK

Remove Facebook account on Phone, soft reset and add Facebook account.

I removed the account and then soft reset my Lumia 920 (press and hold volume button down + start button for about 10 seconds).

Added Facebook account after restart.

DID NOT WORK

On Windows Phone, remove SIM and check messaging with WiFI enabled

DID NOT WORK

Remove Facebook on Windows Phone, change FB password, add Facebook to Microsoft account, add Facebook on Windows Phone

Removed Facebook from the phone.

Then, changed Facebook password through Facebook website.

Visited https://account.live.com/Permissions and added Facebook through add accounts option.

Added Facebook on Windows Phone.

DID NOT WORK

Enable Battery Saver on Windows Phone. Restart.

I searched the Internet and came across this post on answers.microsoft.com

With nothing else to lose, I tried what Khalid Anzar suggested and it worked!

All credit to Khalid for this one. Thank you!

WORKED

Thanks to Jeff (@jepoymanzanillo) for this tip.

Enable battery saver then, uninstall Skype, Facebook App, and delete Facebook from emails + accounts. Then restart the phone, add Facebook account and it connects!

WORKED

Thanks to Rianmos (see comments) for this tip.

Uninstall Skype.

WORKED

Thanks to Juliano Henriquez (see comments) for this tip.

Don’t use an alias as your primary account. Your primary account on your phone and outlook.com have to match. Either format your phone and change the alias to your primary account, or Go to Outlook.com > Your Account Icon (Top Right Corner) > Account Settings > Add or Change Aliases > Make Primary (On the account which is primary on your phone). Wait around 20 minutes and it should login correctly.

WORKED

Thanks to Vivek Garg (see comments) for this tip.

No need to delete Facebook from emails+accounts and restart. Just uninstall Skype and Facebook app. And then set status to available and it should connect.

WORKED

Thanks to Himanshu Gupta (see comments) for this tip.

Make sure the battery saver option is off before you try this.

  1. Turn of Facebook Chat.
  2. Set Chat status to Offline.
  3. Go to Battery Saver option in settings.
  4. Turn on Battery saver.
  5. Go to Advanced Settings inside Battery Saver.
  6. Tap on each of the three options there from bottom to top one after another.
  7. Come back and turn off the Battery Saver.
  8. Go back to messaging and turn on Facebook Chat.
  9. Now set chat status to available. It should get connected.

WORKED

So, if you ever face this issue, these are some of the steps you can try.

Thanks for reading.

Thank Sri :)Thank Sri 🙂

131 thoughts on “Troubleshooting Windows Phone 8: Can't connect to chat”

  2. Am using nokia lumia 520
    am getting a problem i can chat with Facebook friends but at same time i can’t receive Facebook friends message. But sometimes received message
    what can i do

  5. i tried enabling battery saver, but it failed…
    i tried enabling battery saver then, uninstall skype, facebook app, and delete facebook on EMAILS + ACCOUNTS. then after that, restart phone, add facebook account to phone.. it connects

  6. Maybe you guys are using an alias as your primary MS account on your phone. Your primary account on your phone and outlook.com have to match. Either format your phone and change the alias to your primary account, or Go to Outlook.com > Your Account Icon (Top Right Corner) > Account Settings > Add or Change Aliases > Make Primary (On the account which is primary on your phone). Wait around 20 minutes and it should login correctly.

  8. Hi! Any of these steps won’t work on my Lumia 620. Before the problem happened to my phone, I was not logged in on the FB App for a few days, do you think it has to do with being not able to connect on facebook IM?

  9. You Rock the last one is Working…!!!

    Enable battery saver then, uninstall Skype, Facebook App, and delete Facebook from emails + accounts. Then restart the phone, add Facebook account and it connects!

  10. Hi Srinair,

    No need to delete Facebook from emails+accounts and restart.

    Just uninstall skype and facebook app. And then set status to available.

    Mine connected this way.

    Thanks for your suggestion to uninstall skype and fb app 🙂

    Vivek

  11. Had the same issue with lumia 920, My battery saver was on so i just turned it on and then restarted the phone , it worked , Thanx a billion for ur tips

  15. i have been searching for the solution for months, its like trying to find big foot, the solution was illusive, and what worked for others didnt work for me most of the time. But today i have found my solution was to simply remove the facebook app.

  17. I had the same problem with my Lumia 720, removing facebook account from email+accounts and restart, and then add facebook account. This works for me..

  19. I tried uninstalling facebook app, skype and deleting it from the accounts menu in settings, everything while having the battery saver on, and then restart it (actually tried both soft restart and just turning the phone off and on again) and it still doesnt work for me. I have a lumia 920 which is running amber. Any suggestions?

  20. I’ve searching google for solution about half an hour but I was still getting “Can’t connect” message.
    So, now I’ve found what was causing the problem. The only problem was the Skype app. I’ve deleted it and now is working just perfectly.

  23. Hey i tried to follow the last procedure uninstall skype and battery mode ensbled and delete facebook account and did restart the phone but it didnt work for me after restart i added facebook sccount but no response could yoju tell me anything might hsve wrong ??

  24. i have tried every thing but still the same problem and when i tried connecting facebook after removing there was an error which says need attention with a code 83CF1104. i am using 925

  25. Tried every single thing. After uninstalling skype my phone started showing no one is online after that i deleted my fb account from email+account battery saver on restarted my phone and guess what again cant connect to chat….pleaae help my piece of crap lumia 720

  26. Try the following steps as it is mentioned below. Make sure the battery saver option is off before you try this.
    1) Turn of Facebook Chat.
    2) Set Chat status to Offline.
    3) Go to Battery Saver option in settings.
    4) Turn on Battery saver.
    5) Go to Advanced Settings inside Battery Saver.
    6) Tap on each of the three options there from bottom to top one after another.
    7) Come back and turn off the Battery Saver.
    8) Go back to messaging and turn on Facebook Chat.
    9) Now set chat status to available. It should get connected.

  31. Hi to All
    Finally following all steps given by srinair…my Lumia 620 returned from the ashes lol….
    This is the best bet
    Thanx srinair

  34. Thank you very much for this, Srinair. It was very nice of you to compile the steps that worked and those that didn’t work. The last one worked for me. I own a Lumia 520 and I almost do a hard reset if I have not stumbled upon your post. Now I get the chat always online and still keep my settings and files. Keep up the good work! Thanks again.

  35. I had the same issue about facebook chat for almost a month. After seeing the options here, i deleted facebook account from email+accounts options, uninstalled skype, and then added facebook account back again.

    It worked…..!!!!
    Now there is no problem The chat is conecting fine

  37. Hello Srinair,
    I have a different type of problem. I am being able to connect to chat, but it says that no one is online, even though my brother is online on his Lumia 620. When I first got my 920, we both could chat through the messenger. I also had the option to invite people. Now i’m not being able to chat with him, and neither do I have the option to invite people. My brother has the options to invite people, but is not being able to invite people.

    How do I chat with windows phone users in the messaging. Tried all the above options, but none helped me. I also tried logging to my outlook account and tried chatting from there, it only works through Skype and not through the typical messenger.

  38. Hi,
    I hv tried all the steps but failed but i made a new thing dat i uninstalled the Skype and loged out face book and made a soft reset it connected to chat

    • sorry …not working.. it worked initially..then after a while …same again…even after uninstalling Skype, deleting FB account and creating new again…

    • What error message are you getting? There are a few solutions listed here and it’s surprising that none of them have worked. Did you try them in order?

  42. Awsum i tried batter saver on thenadvanced settings all 3 options once clcked then battery saver off thn my i saw my chat is conected thanks a lot

  43. Hey..thank you…it works…!! Cant connect to IM was a usual problem with ma lumia 520..then i uninstalled skype as u said and now it is working…Thanks a lot….:)

  44. I had to remove fb accnt,restart phone and follow your worked option 6 amd yaaay it got connected 🙂 but the attachment option has only location enabled. Is there any settings available wherein i can enable attach photos/videos etc with the chat message?

    • Hi Angela, glad you got it connected. The attachment options doesn’t have a separate setting. Try switching (arrows) to text mobile or Messenger and you’ll get those options as Facebook chat doesn’t support any attachments, which is what you have currently selected.

  52. Hey guys, I had same probs with L-520. Tried below steps and now it’s working…. 🙂
    Try the following steps as it is mentioned below. Make sure the battery saver option is off before you try this.
    1) Turn of Facebook Chat.
    2) Set Chat status to Offline.
    3) Go to Battery Saver option in settings.
    4) Turn on Battery saver.
    5) Go to Advanced Settings inside Battery Saver.
    6) Tap on each of the three options there from bottom to top one after another.
    7) Come back and turn off the Battery Saver.
    8) Go back to messaging and turn on Facebook Chat.
    9) Now set chat status to available. It should get connected.

  57. Hi,
    When iam using mobile data connection its not working..but if i connect wifi..its automatically chat is working..

    Please give a solution for this chat.Im using Nokia 520

  58. Thank you so much. Now it works. Just deleted Skype and Facebook Application and then it works. But actually i still confused. Can you tell me what happened? I already had Skype and Facebook Apps installed before and i had no problem till since a few days ago. Now Skype and Facebook Apps make avoid to connect chat and messenger. Do they crash? Or any bug in them or battery saver?

  59. SOLUTION…
    The culprit is aliases in Outlook.com. Go to Outlook Settings. Aliases. And make the primary alias, the one that
    is primary on the Phone. To check that on phone go to Settings->email+accounts and see the very first Windows Live account. Make that account primary account in Outlook.com and Voila. Facebook Chat works again. A reboot maybe required.

    note: This is for the default messaging hub facebook support and not the facebook chat in the Facebook App.

  60. Hey guyz!! This solutions are shit. I found the real problem and solutin. This problem surely creates with your windows account. Do you remember it ask your permission to connect facebook accountvand windows accont together to enable the chat. Srinair s some steps are not working with some windows phone. Because of thats are not the right solutions for the problem. My solution is moves with any windows phone i tried it

    • Janod,
      To say that the solutions that myself and many others have suggested, that has worked for a number of people, “are shit”, is an insult. To suggest a phone reset, which is a last resort move, is the most painful and time consuming of all steps. I don’t know whether you tried all the steps or how closely you followed the instructions but don’t diss stuff without due cause.
      Sri

  61. Nokia Lumia: 925 and Windows Phone 8
    I found that my phone had set it’s time and date to a date significantly in the past, on correcting this within settings Chat connected correctly.

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