Web Chat: Why do I get "Unable to connect:null"?

When using the Java-based Web Chat, usually the "Unable to connect:null" message is because of one of these things:

You clicked No: If you did not trust the certificate, and refused to click the Yes button you could recieve this error. Clear out your temporary internet files. Close the web browser and reload the web page and click Yes (or Run) when asked.

A local, or network firewall is preventing you from using the selected port. (This is the most common!)

The server just can't be found: Servers some times go down and you might have caught one when it was.

The client is trying to connect to a closed port, or one the server isn't using. Clear out your temporary internet files. Close the web browser and reload the web page and click Yes (or Run) when asked.

It could be that the JVM is trying to access the Internet via the SOCKS server settings and not the HTTP.
To fix the problem try un-ticking the "use browser settings" check box in the Java plugin proxies tab and just add the HTTP IP and PORT of your proxy server that goes out onto the Internet.

Your internet cache is serving files from an older version of the applet. Clear out your temporary internet files. Close the web browser and reload the web page and click Yes (or Run) when asked.

There may be a condition where the applet is being served up corrupted by the server. Clear out your temporary internet files. Close the web browser and reload the web page and click Yes (or Run) when asked.

This topic only relates to our depreciated Java-based Web Chat.