Messenger disconnecting

[Darlene]

I have tried both windows messenger 4.7 and msn messenger 5 and neither one
will stay connected.
After about 2 minutes of being connected they disconnect. This is very
annoying. I am running
Windows XP , am using a router and a firewall. I have set the router to
allow
msn and messenger and also in the firewall. Still no different. Can
someone
please tell me what to do. I would like to thank you in advance.

Then I hear from Grant Smith which he stated , Had the same problem with my
messenger clients.
Seems there is a timeout on messenger and if the router is not
configured properly (i.e. it trys to resolve your
internal IP address) then messenger timeout packet
assumes you are not online and logs you off.
Either reconfigure your router / firewall or pipe your
Messenger out on a proxy server. I had to do this as I
could not reconfigure the router on my corporate LAN.

Can someone please tell me how to either configure my router or do the proxy
server as he stated.
I have tried so many different things and still can not get messenger or
MSN messenger to stay connected. I am at my wits end.
PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME.

Darlene