Hotmail Sign in blank page problem (not working / not loading)
Of all the Hotmail sign in problems you are likely to encounter, the following isn't uncommon: you type www.hotmail.com or www.live.com, expecting to find the usual login form, but you are instead greeted with nothing more than a blank page: not links, no Hotmail logo, just a white page without any content, let alone a meaningful error message. As you'll learn on this page, there are two types of reasons for this login failure - each with an easy-to-implement solution or workaround.
Hotmail sign in screen not loading!
Here are two causes of the blank login screen, so let's start with the simplest problem and solution:
- The first common explanation is simply an interruption or disconnection of your internet connection: while this may sound trivial, since can be especially common if you are using a busy wireless signal or a router distant from your computer. When you get a blank sign in page, it simply means that your connection temporarily disconnect at the exact second when your browser started loading the page: you may see the correct URL (internet address) inside the browser's address bar, and even perhaps the word "disconnection of your internet connection: while this may sound trivial, since can be especially common if you are using a busy wireless signal or a router distant from your computer. When you get a blank sign in page, it simply means that your connection temporarily disconnect at the exact second when your browser started loading the page: you may see the correct URL (internet address) inside the browser's address bar, and even perhaps the word "Sign In" in the title bar, but no content, as shown on the screenshot below:
- This is the easiest problem to fix, since it doesn't involve Hotmail itself, but your internet connection or your hardware (router, unplugged cables, dropped wireless signal, etc.) Of course, you need to make sure that you are using a web browser supported by Hotmail - but you already know that this is the case if you have logged in to your email account in the past from the same browser you are using today.
Second common cause for the blank Hotmail login page
And here is another common cause for receiving a blank sign in screen, which this time has little to do with you, and everything to do with the Hotmail mail servers themselves:
- The second reason for which you may receive a Hotmail's blank login page is a problem with the Windows Live servers, which will sometimes also include a generic error message like "550 server error" - or some other number accompanying the notification. In that situation, the cause of the blank sign in screen or login form not working is just an excess in traffic (Windows Live Hotmail, after all is one of the top two most popular webmail services in the world, with over 300 million users potentially trying to connect at the same time!)
- We recommend that you wait a few seconds, and then press the "F5" key on your keyboard on Windows or Linux (on a Mac, press the Command+R keyboard shortcut instead). This will force your web browser to request the Hotmail sign in page again from the server. 90% of the time, the problem you experienced was just a temporary hiccup, and you will see the standard login form you expected, and the familiar Hotmail sign in in all its glory:
Tip: After trying to refresh and reload the login screen a couple of times without success, if you still get a blank screen or page not loading error message of some kind, you know that the problem is more serious than traffic overload - and probably requires an tech support intervention. The best thing to do is waiting 5-10 minutes before trying again, to let the Windows Live Hotmail team get on the problem (without having too many people trying to login at the same time!)
Advanced users: you can also try to use the ping command on live.com and hotmail.com from the DOS prompt, and see where it stops hopping or timing out.
New Hotmail, MSN Hotmail, Windows Live Hotmail & Live email are all referring to the same free webmail service offered by Microsoft and Windows Live Team (works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X). Microsoft Corporation, Apple, and other companies own the copyright or trademark to these and other terms mentioned.