Is it that you can't get the buddy list window to come up or that your buddy list says that there are no people on it? either way, I'm not sure how to help you...but sorta on the same note(that is, AOL SUCKS!!!!) I've been having a problem with Instant Messenger also. It's really strange...it (sort of) signs me off without my permission. If I don't talk to anyone for some amount of time (more than a minute or two), anything I say won't be sent, and anything anyone says to me also isn't sent; I'm not able to look at people's profile (it tells me "Please Wait . . ." indefinately); and eventually, it actually signs me off. The only way I've found to be able to get back online is to, first, check someone's profile (just to make sure I'm not "online"), and then sign off and back on again. It's really strange and annoying and stuff...if anyone has any idea what's going on and/or how to fix this, it'd be greatly appreciated!