Dear Chat Users;

To make the use of the Chat Line easier for you, the 'Software Issues and Compatibility' have been separated from 'General Questions and Features' (see FAQ) for easier reading. The general questions about Parachat are located in the FAQ section. The underlined text that is bright blue indicates a 'link'. A link will take you to the issue or to another Web Site or E-Mail address. The red triangle '' will take you back to the top of the Contents page.

Contents:

  1. What kind of browser do I need to use ParaChat?

  2. "I am using a MAC and cannot connect to ParaChat. Why?"

  3. "Is there a Java enabled browser for Windows 3.1 that works with ParaChat?"

  4. "I am using Netscape 3.0 / MS I.E. 3.0 on Windows 95 and still get the 'Sorry not Java enabled' message, is there some option I need to set?"

  5. "I use AOL, how can I use ParaChat?"

  6. "I cannot connect to ParaChat. I get 'Connection to ParaChat.webpage.com:7779 failed' message. Why? What do I do?"

  7. "My Java console gives me a 'set daemon bug' message on Netscape. What is that?"

  8. "I was logged on and the connection to the Internet/chat server dropped. I cannot log back with the same username (nick) Why?"

  9. "I cannot connect to ParaChat. I get some or all of the following messages : Connection Failed . Disconnected:Network connection closed. Error 444 Why? What do I do?"

  10. "I get the message : Session killed due to another login from your machine and then I cannot connect. Why?"

  11. "I get ...'could not connect to server BAD_PARAMETERS:BAD_PARAMETERS'. Why?"

  12. "I get 'Security violation' and the chat applet does not load, what do I do?"

  13. "I get a 'Load ParaChat class not found' error message or a 'gray box' when accessing one of the demo rooms on the ParaChat web site at http://www.parachat.com. How do I fix it?"

  14. "Text in chat window does not scroll under Internet Explorer 4.0 Beta preview release? Why?"

  15. "Does ParaChat work with WebTV?"

  16. "I am using a proxy server or am behind a firewall, can I use ParaChat?"

  17. "Why does it take longer to connect to ParaChat sometimes?"

If your issue is not addressed here, please leave E-mail to: pchat@paralogic.com. Or, visit their homepage at: http://www.parachat.com. Sorry, Complete Bowling Index does not provide technical support on Parachat. Parachat Chat service is offered by Complete Bowling Index 'as-is' without warranty or guarantee.


 

"What kind of browser do I need to use ParaChat?"
You need to use a web browser that is Java enabled like Netscape 2.0, 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0. If your browser is not Java aware you will not see the chat room but get a message, 'Sorry your browser is not Java enabled' MAC users must use MS Internet Explorer 3.01b , it will not work with Netscape currently. Please see following MAC question for more.
Win 3.1 can use Netscape 3.01 Beta with Java for Windows 3.1 , see following question on Win 3.1 for more.

"I am using a MAC and cannot connect to ParaChat. Why?"
There are known problems with Netscape's implementation of Java and we are working with Netscape to see if we can work around those bugs. So currently ParaChat will not work for Mac users using Netscape. Microsoft's Internet Explorer 3.01b is known to work well for some Mac users and work with some repaint bugs (chat window messed up and cannot see the chat command buttons) for other Mac users. If you are a Mac user and have had luck with any other version of these browsers or any others please send email to:
pchat@paralogic.com

"Is there a Java enabled browser for Windows 3.1 that works with ParaChat?"
You could use the new Navigator 3.01 Beta with Java for Windows 3.1 available for download at
http://home.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/client_download.html. It is believed to work with ParaChat though it is slow and has some bugs.

"I am using Netscape 3.0 / MS I.E. 3.0 on Windows 95 and still get the 'Sorry not Java enabled' message, is there some option I need to set?"
Make sure that your browser's Java feature is enabled. For Netscape Navigator, enable Java by clicking "Options", "Network Preferences", "Language". Make sure the "Enable Java" checkbox is checked. For Microsoft Internet Explorer, enable Java by clicking "View", "Options", "Security". Check the "Enable Java programs"checkbox.

"I use AOL, how can I use ParaChat?"
Just connect to AOL, go to the Word Wide Web, minimize the AOL window and launch a Java enabled browser. You can download Netscape Navigator v3.01 from http://www.netscape.com or Microsoft Internet Explorer v3.0 from
http://www.microsoft.com.

"I cannot connect to ParaChat. I get 'Connection to ParaChat.webpage.com:7779 failed' message. Why? What do I do?"
The error was due to our chat server being too busy at the time you tried the login..In such instances please login again after a few minutes.Please do not hit Connect multiple times, wait for a few minutes and then re-connect, else the Server receives several connect requests from the same machine and it will actually take longer to connect. Sorry for the inconvenience.

"My Java console gives me a 'set daemon bug' message on Netscape. What is that?"
This is just an informational message - please ignore it.

"I was logged on and the connection to the Internet/chat server dropped. I cannot log back with the same username (nick) Why?"
If you log back via the same machine (IP address) it detects a more recent login and lets you in. However if you use another IP address (another machine or a dynamic IP address), it will not permit another login if it still has a login under that user name. After a time-out period of 10 min the user is automatically logged off and you can then reuse the same user name (nick).

"I cannot connect to ParaChat. I get some or all of the following messages : Connection Failed . Disconnected:Network connection closed. Error 444 Why? What do I do?"
These errors are due to your Internet connection going down, or due to our chat server being too busy at the time you tried the login. In such instances please login again after a few minutes.Please do not hit Connect multiple times, wait for a few minutes and then re-connect, else the Server receives several connect requests from the same machine and it will actually take longer to connect. Sorry for the inconvenience.

"I get the message : Session killed due to another login from your machine and then I cannot connect. Why?"
This is a bug that we are working on, you get the message when the system is too busy, please retry after a while.

"I get ...'could not connect to server BAD_PARAMETERS:BAD_PARAMETERS'. Why?"
That error is due to the system detecting that one or more of the applet parameters passed is invalid. Please check the HTML code on the Java chat applet against the code received on registration. Also if you are using Netscape Gold 3.0 you may get this even with correct HTML due to a parameter passing bug on Netscape Gold 3.0. In that case please use another browser/version like Netscape 3.0 (non Gold), Gold 3.01 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0.

UPDATE: On certain versions of Netscape, this problem can be fixed by changing the Document Encoding to 'Western'. On your browser, click on Options, then click on Document Encoding and set it to Western

"I get a 'Load ParaChat class not found' error message or a 'gray box' when accessing one of the demo rooms on the ParaChat web site at http://www.parachat.com. How do I fix it?"
The chat applet on our demo rooms loads from a machine called dru.webpage.com - it appears that you are unable to access this for some reason. We suggest the following:

  1. Flush caches on your browser.

  2. For Netscape : On the browser's menu bar, go to Options ,select Network Preferences ,select Cache,click on Clear Memory Cache Now,click on OK. Click on Clear Disk Cache Now, click on OK. .Set Verify Documents to Every Time, click on OK

  3. For Microsoft Internet Explorer: On the browser's menu bar, go to View,select Options ,select Advanced , click on Settings for the Temporary Internet Files. Check the Every visit to the page option under Check for newer versions of stored pages.

  4. Click on Empty Folder and select Yes to the Delete temporarily files message. Click on OK Click on OK in the Options Dialog.

  5. Exit your browser completely and restart it.

If above did not help, see if you can access dru.webpage.com via your browser by pointing your browser to http://dru.webpage.com If you get hostname not found error, then it means your ISP (Internet Service Provider) is not running name services correctly. Contact your ISP and ask them to fix their name services so you can access this machine.

"I get 'Security violation' and the chat applet does not load, what do I do?"
This is probably because your browser is caching an earlier version of the applet. Do the following:

  1. Flush the browser's cache:

  2. For Netscape : On the browser's menu bar, go to Options ,select Network Preferences ,select Cache,click on Clear Memory Cache Now,click on OK. Click on Clear Disk Cache Now, click on OK. .Set Verify Documents to Every Time, click on OK

  3. For Microsoft Internet Explorer: On the browser's menu bar, go to View,select Options ,select Advanced , click on Settings for the Temporary Internet Files. Check the Every visit to the page option under Check for newer versions of stored pages.

  4. Click on Empty Folder and select Yes to the Delete temporarily files message. Click on OK Click on OK in the Options Dialog.

  5. Exit the browser completely and restart it.

"Text in chat window does not scroll under Internet Explorer 4.0 Beta preview release? Why?"
Internet Explorer 4.0 beta release is a 'preview release' and the text box has a bug in it that does not allow the chat text window to scroll. Please use a released product like Internet Explorer 3.0.

"Does ParaChat work with WebTV?"
No, ParaChat does not work with WebTV.

I am using a proxy server or am behind a firewall, can I use ParaChat?
You will be unable to access one of the free ParaChat Personal rooms from behind a firewall or via a proxy server. You will however be able to access certain special firewall enabled chat rooms on some sites example our own Demo room 4. If you find you can access room 4 and not rooms 1 to 3, then you are behind a firewall.

"Why does it take longer to connect to ParaChat sometimes?"
In most cases you experience slow connect times and response times because of any computer on the Net between your machine and ours being down or slow.You can often determine which computer on the Net is causing the problem by doing a traceroute to see the connection lags. From time to time, we are all victims of Internet slow downs. We pay a lot of money to make sure that we are one hop away from all the major NAPs and are on a fast low latency backbone. But even that is no guarantee that the net in general will not be slow and sluggish. You may want to just check back later when the net is behaving better. Also, if you suspect something is amiss, try
http://www.internetweather.com which is updated every 15 minutes.