Google Talk's latest update doesn't behave gracefully offline

 by Martin Belam, 19 October 2006

I've griped before about software programs silently updating themselves on my laptop, and then not behaving gracefully when they find I live in an almost always offline world at the moment, and yet again Google Talk is a prime culprit.

Last time it updated itself without asking my consent, the Norton software and the Google software on my machine just would not play nicely until one of them got a chance to go online again. That time the honours were even for being unhelpful, but with the latest change to googletalk.exe on my machine, it is most definitely Google who have to take the blame.

It used to be that Google Talk would try to log in to my Gmail account as soon as my PC was booted up. If it succeeded I would get a Google speech bubble icon in my Windows System Tray – if it failed it would let me know ambiently by making the icon a duller grey speech bubble.

20061018_talk-icons.gif

However, that is not good enough for this new update. Now, if Google Talk fails to connect to the internet it lets me know with a huge splash dialogue box across my desktop.

Could not connect to the Google Talk service (Error 1)
Learn more
20061018_error.gif

It makes me wonder about the state of product management at the Googleplex that this is considered to be an improved user experience.

Clearly I want my instant messaging software to convey to other people whether I have an online presence or not, but I don’t need it to remind me every time I boot up my laptop away from a wifi hotspot that I don’t have an internet connection. I’m quite well aware of that already.

To add insult to injury, not only do I have to now confirm to Google Talk that I am offline, the error is generated because the application cannot connect to Google Talk’s internet servers. Yet the 'learn more' part of the error dialogue is a link. When clicked this fires up my default browser, and yes, you’ve guessed it, tries, and fails, to retrieve a page from the internet to explain to me that my computer isn’t online.

20061018_google-not-found.gif

When you are online and visit that address, it tells you

An error message states, 'Could not connect to the Google Talk service.'
This error most commonly appears when you have no connection to the internet.

48 Comments

And there I thought I was the only one who was irritated by this...

The popup REALLY is useless.

I too have the same problem. first, i thought the problem is with the firefox and uninstalled that.. i still have the same problem..

I have the same problem, but the computer is connected, wirelessly, but I can visit any site. Is there any solution to the problem? Will the software update now that it is failing to connect? I have tried uninstalling and installing again to no avail.

I am getting this message suddenly and can't connect to google talk....does anyone know how to reconnect now that i have the message? I tried rebooting too..does nothing....HELP..miss my google talk!

I was getting the same message. Google may come up with new version. The current version 1.0.0.104 seems to be causing problem. Install 1.0.0.103 or 1.0.0.100. One of this should be fine. May you need to change settings for google talk not to check for new release till this problem is resolved.

Check this for all google talk versions

how can i reapair this

I also started recently getting this on my system and also do not know how to fix it. also running norton.

Yes buddy i am also getting the same error in gtalk and also in firefox but after that I have update the FF to some new verson then its working fine but dont know what do with Gtalk?
Any one could you help me to solve the problem

has anyone found a solution yet !!! please enlighten me..as i face the problem too!!!

I have the same problem...I can not even reach the page to retrieve my gmail messages. How to fix it?

i m from india i hve wated my complete wek in searching for d solution .. Still empty handed...

I hve also written to the google team but NO RESPONSE till date ,....

wat to do ...
Plz mail me the solution if possible....

Could not connect to the Google Talk service (error 1).Please resolve the error asap.

Me too experiencing the same prob... so what's the solution finally..? i'm sure it's a damn virus..!!!

Yes i m also getting the same problem. I too think that virus or torjan horse is causing this prblem... as same version is working fine on PC next to mine.

same problem with www.google.com , www.orkut.com
anyone ...
its some sort of proxy problem or SSL setting.
are u guys using XP SP2 ?

I request u pls start my google talk

Hi
I faced this problem when i installed firefox on my machine. Then I went to firefox settings and did the same proxy settings which were there in internet explorer. After this I did not get this error. So first of all check if firefox is your default browser. Then check if you have internet explorer on ur machine as well if yes do the same proxy settings in firefox as well as googletalk will check the proxy settings of ur default browser. If it's not set it will give the error. Hope it helps.

Hi, I have repeatedly uninstall and installed gooletalk, but it never works. My Internet connection is perfectly working however, every time I try to launch googletalk I receive the popup
"Could not connect to the Google Talk service (error 1).
Learn more"

please send me some workaround to solve this problem ASAP.

I ma facing the problem while loging in to google talk.the error it throw is "could not connect to the google talk service (error 1)".

I went through some of the posts. I ckecked my internet connectinon and it is working fine. I am unable to locate the problem. can anybody help me to resolve this problem

soumya

Hi.

I had this same problem as one of my client's PCs also had FireFox installed. What I did to resolve it was uninstall FireFox and reset the Settings for GoogleTalk, click on Connections and set your Proxy IP Address if you have any with your Username and Password. This resolved my problem and I now can connect to GoogleTalk.

Hope this helps! Thanks.

I have done all I could to stop this from coming up.
I almost stopped using my g mail account completely.
It simply is disappointing to know that after all changes done:from the proxy, to re installation, nothing ever seems to work. And the worst part is that my other chat engines work expressly well.
Please help me sort this out.
I really miss my google talk

Hi, I have repeatedly uninstall and installed gooletalk, but it never works. My Internet connection is perfectly working however, every time I try to launch googletalk I receive the popup
"Could not connect to the Google Talk service (error 1).

Even i was facing the same problem ,just reset the Settings for GoogleTalk, click on Connections and set your Proxy IP Address if you have any with your Username and Password (for me blank user name and password worked)

Please try out.

Hi All

I am also getting the same error. I did receive a software update from my company. Maybe there is a port blocking (I think gtalk uses 5222/443).

Venkatesh

was anyone able to find the resolution for this?....the proxy settings dint help me though, tried all versions...everything....any work arounds....n gtalk is a lifeline...gotta have tis working....HELP!!!!!

. . . so much for being a loyal google talk user. I tried proxy settings but have failed nonetheless.

Any solutions?!?

So its not me alone who has this problem, have someone got a fix for this ??

So its not me alone who has this problem, have someone got a fix for this ??

hi....
i am facing the same problem over here....
i think it has got sth to do with the proxy's port no.....
for example at my place port 5222 is banned......
which i think is req for gtalk.....
can u guys tell me if u are on the same prob.........

hi all,

how i resolved my google talk client issue:

on the client, GO:

settings>>connection>>use the following proxy: port 8080, the name of your proxy server

hope this helps

cheers

I am getting the same error "'Could not connect to the Google Talk service.'" whenever I log in. I am using Vista Ultimate English version. I set FireFox as default browser. I have tried all suggestions mentioned above. Nothing work out for me. Please Help ! !

Guys, I don't know what you have done to your computers but for the first time i see that somebody have problems with Google Talk. I'm using it constantly and it works just fine and it works that way to all people I know. Is this some kind of Yahoo or MSN lovers club so you are lying about Gmail to get it hated?

Yep, Mladen, you've found us out. Anyone who has ever had any problems with Google's products is obviously just a hater whose internet voice should be silenced.

an error messege is occured while opening the gtalk

could not connect gtalk services error 1" -

my internate connection is proper .all other webs properly work .means u can not say that my internate connectivity is poor

i, I have repeatedly uninstall and installed gooletalk, but it never works. My Internet connection is perfectly working however, every time I try to launch googletalk I receive the popup
"Could not connect to the Google Talk service (error 1).
went through some of the posts. I ckecked my internet connectinon and it is working fine. I am unable to locate the problem. can anybody help me to resolve this problem

AFAIK this is an error of the latest update..
try to install the previous version...
I also had the some problem, and i go back to the previous version, and voila it works ...

All sick people here. The post is sick.Gtalk is such a nice application. I cannot imagine my life without gtalk.If u do not want gtalk to load automatically when u start ur computer, just go to Start> Run and type Msconfig and press enter. Then in Services tab click off Googletalk.It wont get loaded automaticlaly again.And please check the proxy settings. Try a bit of patience and have a bit of tolerance if u want to live in this world. What seems annoying to you has great utility to majority of users. So please do not come forth with such articles again.

go to google talk, settings - > connection -> enter the Host and Port -> click on ok

Incase u dont have host & Port No. you can go to Internet Explorer -> Tools -> Internet Options - > Connections -> LAN Settings -> and checkout the host & Port No. and fillit in google talk settings mentioned above

Folks, there is a likelyhood of new version incompatibilities with your local software/hardware. So try the new online browser embedded google talk, that should work.

Goto following site:
http://talkgadget.google.com

Click on the link which says
"Launch Google Talk Gadget (No Download Required!) "

Login using your usual id/password, enjoy.

Best of luck
IndianITGuy

if any of u still need it
i fixed the problem changing my firewall settings (allowing google talk) and it worked =)

hope it was helpful

plzzzz help error 1

Hello IndianITGuy
I want to use gtalk for voice chat. Not text chat.Your advice not applicable.

Hi ana
Changing firewall setting not working for me.

Anybody Help pls.

Did u install a firewall after installing gtalk???? Uninstall the Gtalk and then reinstall it and set its level as trusted in firewall setting before you run it for the first time after re-installation. Worked for me ...... U say.....

it have more feature and user friendly

I think its related with norton. One should allow the gtalk application in norton/windows firewall. My problem got solved! Hope this will help.

Check your firewall settings. I am using symantec firewall.
in client firewall section->configure->program. I gave "permit all" option to gtalk application. And this error has gone. Enjoy gtalk :-).
Hope it helps.

My gtalk 1.0.0.104 beta is working fine from different PCs and different public IPs, but some users are reporting error 1 when they login from their id. Previous version seems to solve this.

So people, I'm having a similar problem. But not only me, everyone I know too. We are regular Gtalk users, but after installing Windows Vista, Gtalk never works again. We are behind a proxy, don't know if that has something to do, but using windows XP behind the same proxy, everything works fine. I've tried versions 1.0.0.104 and 1.0.0.98 hoping that it would be a version problem, but nothing worked. I have windows firewall, windows defender and all that stuff disabled, so no firewall is in the way. However, if I use a tunneling solution (like YourFreedom) then I can use Gtalk just fine, but I dont want to have YourFreedom opened all day long!! What's the matter with Vista, then? I really want to use this new O.S., but I also want to use Gtalk!!
Please help, I'm becoming desperate for solutions.

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