"Start a Voice Chat..." is faded or greyed out
If you click on the Messages button on Yahoo! Messenger and can see "Start a Voice Chat..." but are unable to click on it because it is dim or greyed out, you are probably behind some kind of a firewall or proxy server, and it may not be possible for you to use the voice chat feature. However, it may be possible to configure Messenger so that you can.
Here's what you can try:
- Pull down the "Edit" menu, then click on "Preferences", then click on the "Connection" tab.
- Click on "No proxies", then click ok at the bottom.
- Messenger will ask you if you would like to log in with your new settings.
- If you are able to connect, you should be able to use voice chat now.
- If you cannot connect (light at the bottom of the Messenger stays yellow and says "Connecting..."), then go back to the connections tab and select "No Network Detection". Click ok, then yes to login.
- If you are able to connect, you should be able to use voice chat.
If that doesn't work, you are almost certainly behind some sort of firewall. The last thing to try is to enter the address and port number of your firewall and/or proxy servers. If you don't know that information, you can get it by contacting your internet service provider (if you are at home) or your network administrator (if you are at work). One you have the server address and port number, go back to the "Connection" tab, then click on "Use Proxies", and enter the information in the appropriate place. If you try all this and are still unable to connect, you'll have to go back to "Firewall with no proxies", and you won't be able to use voice chat on that computer.