Mister Geezer,
Dont know if this will help but I think its worth a try.
I used to have problems with chat, it was doing exactly what you describe. I think that it has something to do with changing or altering your profile.
For some reason, if I ever changed something in the settings (icon etc) then the chat would freeze up and do nothing, so now as soon as I log in I just type a few greetings, say hi etc etc THEN go and fiddle with the settings. It seems to work fine for me after that.
Hope this helps a bit,
PilotEddy