I need to reset my son's standalone AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)
password. I setup his AIM account in the first place, from inside the
AOL fat client (not inside AIM). I still can login to the AOL fat
client, and access his account from there. But for some reason,
changing his AOL password from inside the AOL fat client does not
actually change his AIM (separate client) password. Help!

englishpaulm2...


This page from AOL offers you the option of having a reminder
sent to your email address for your AOL IM account. All you
have to do is enter your (his) screen name.

Also:

"If your Screen Name is also an AOL Screen Name, you can reset
 the AIM password at Keyword: AIM Password"
http://www.aim.com/help_faq/forgot_password/password.adp


Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that  
the answer cannot be improved upon by way of a dialog  
established through the "Request for Clarification" process. 

sublime1-ga


Searches done, via Google:

"AOL IM" password site:www.aol.com
://www.google.com/search?q=%22AOL+IM%22+password+site%3Awww.aol.com

---

Request for Answer Clarification by englishpaulm2-ga on 20 Sep 2005 08:58 PDT

Hello Sublime,

I tried that option but got the following error. Now I know for a fact
that his nicname is active, as I can use it inside the AOL fat client.
I just need for him to be able to use it only with AIM client (not AOL
fat client) on a PC that does not have the full AOL. (I do not want to
install the full AOL on this PC!)

"We are currently unable to process your password request because the
screen name submitted was not found.  Please try again later."

I have seen this confusion before at AOL. It seems their login system
for AOL fat client and AIM are different-- sometimes integrated,
sometimes not. For example, my own AOL username has a different
password within AOL than it does when I use it with AIM!

Thanks for any tips you can provide.

--Paul

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Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 20 Sep 2005 13:03 PDT

Paul...

Which option are you referring to which produced the error
message - having a reminder sent through email, or resetting
the password at Keyword: AIM Password? And did you try the
option other than the one that produced the error message?

AIM is pretty much independent of the main client, and it's
not unusual to set up AIM with a different password than
the one for the main client.

How old is your son?

I wonder if, in the process of updating AIM, they've made
changes which caused your son's account to be suspended?
They are now excluding children under the age of 13. See
this page to learn about reactivating an account by way
of age verification:
http://www.aim.com/help_faq/error_mess/winerrors_suspendedAccount.adp

That page also notes that AIM accounts can be suspended
for violations of the Terms of Service.

The error message you received is pretty rare, returning
only one result on Google:

"We are currently unable to process your password request because"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22We+are+currently+unable+to+process+your+password+request+because%22

It seems likely to me that his AIM account was suspended
for some reason. The simplest thing to do might be to 
set up a new AIM account.

AIM Express can be accessed from a web browser, and it's
free to sign up, even if you don't have an AOL account:
http://www.aim.com/get_aim/express/aim_expr.adp

You can also use it to sign in if you do have an AOL
account. I can still sign in with the the username and
password I had when I used AOL over 10 years ago.

Let me know where this takes you...

sublime1-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by englishpaulm2-ga on 22 Sep 2005 15:05 PDT

Hello sublime,

The reminder link did not send me any email... :(

A friend just suggested I login to AOL client and change my son's
account to unlimited, as his prior AOL client setting as "child" might
have disabled him from using AIM outside of the AOL client.

I did this, and now everything works.

While the answer you had provided did not help me resolve this issue,
I do very much appreciate your assistance.

Kind regards,
Paul

---

Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 22 Sep 2005 17:35 PDT

Oops, I meant to post this as a Clarification instead of a comment.

Paul...

You said:

"A friend just suggested I login to AOL client and change my son's
 account to unlimited, as his prior AOL client setting as "child"
 might have disabled him from using AIM outside of the AOL client."

That's why I sent you to a page to go through the age verification
process, which should have accomplished the same thing:

How old is your son?

I wonder if, in the process of updating AIM, they've made
changes which caused your son's account to be suspended?
They are now excluding children under the age of 13. See
this page to learn about reactivating an account by way
of age verification:
http://www.aim.com/help_faq/error_mess/winerrors_suspendedAccount.adp

I'm glad it worked out for you.

sublime1-ga

The researcher did point out good information about AIM in general,
although that information did not solve my actual problem. I found the
solution elsewhere, by asking a friend. That said, I am awarding the
reseacher with 4 stars for their effort, so they get paid for their
work. I hope this is ok!

ps, I hate that Google Answers does not send me replies in the body of
the email. I and many other people do their email on a Blackberry, so
when you simply send me email saying "There is a new reply, please
login to see it" it is incredibly frustrating since my Blackberry does
not allow me to login to your site. Thus it can be days before I can
actually read a response.

Paul...

You said:

"A friend just suggested I login to AOL client and change my son's
 account to unlimited, as his prior AOL client setting as "child"
 might have disabled him from using AIM outside of the AOL client."

That's why I sent you to a page to go through the age verification
process, which should have accomplished the same thing:

How old is your son?

I wonder if, in the process of updating AIM, they've made
changes which caused your son's account to be suspended?
They are now excluding children under the age of 13. See
this page to learn about reactivating an account by way
of age verification:
http://www.aim.com/help_faq/error_mess/winerrors_suspendedAccount.adp

I'm glad it worked out for you.

sublime1-ga

Hi Sublime,

I had gone to the page you had listed:

  http://www.aim.com/help_faq/error_mess/winerrors_suspendedAccount.adp

But his AIM account was never active in the first place (we originally
just setup him in the AOL fat client); so I didn't think suspension
was for this case, and the instructions they had on that page didn't
mention the fat client, which is where I ended up having to make the
fix.

Thanks again,
Paul