problems with zone messaging

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.games.zone (More info?)

I am having problems with zone messaging during the
bridge-club games.

The problem:

If I don't send or receive a zone message for awhile
(somewhere between 5-10 minutes), some sort of time-out
occurs and I can no longer send or receive messages. My
partner reports that I disappear in some fashion (but her
English is not good and so I am not sure in what
manner). On my end I notice nothing. My Zone-Friends
panel appears normal. If I send a message while in this
state, it appears to be sent, but does not arrive.

I have subsequently gone into the Zone Friends
Options/Preferences Dialog and checked the "Automatically
Reconnect to the zone after a disconnection". The
effect of this is as follows: After the time-out occurs,
I still cannot tell that I have been disconnected. When
I send a message (for example to myself), it does not
arrive. But the process of sending the message does
activate the reconnection logic. I then see the zone-
friends window being re-painted and the next message I
send arrives without problem. And everything is fine
until it times out again 5-10 minutes later.

Context:

This started happening about a month ago. What changed
then? Unfortunately lots. Right about then, I:
* installed a new router (Netgear WGR614 v4)
* got a new cable modem from my ISP (Motorola SB5120)
* installed an update to the Earthlink Firewall,
* installed an update to my MacAfee Firewall,
* installed a couple of Windows XP-updates (not SP2 tho)

What has not worked:

I have un-installed and re-installed the Zone software.
I have tried to turn off the Earthlink Firewall and the
MacAfee Firewall.