OK.
I just tried the DGM to see if I could uninstall and install a small game and it worked fine, so at the very least the server for the DGM has to be up (at least while I was using it).
I went to the Drengin.cm news group and looked for other problems there as well and found this little tidbit. I don't know if it is a solution or not, but, who knows. It just might be useful.
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I was getting file size mismatches on several icons in the drengin component manager. I tried several things, and then hit on the solution:
I put The Proxomitron into "bypass" mode.
DGM silently picks up proxy information from Internet Explorer, even when -- as in this case -- you don't really want it to. I'm not sure exactly what the problem is, but with the proxy bypassed, everything downloaded just fine.
As part of my experimentation, I'd put my PC outside of the NAT firewall and given it a static IP address. It's now behind it again, using DHCP to get a dynamic IP address, fully firewalled ... and working with drengin.
Hope this helps someone, as it was a source of much frustration to me.
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Some of this makes sense to me. First, the icons he is talking about are the icons that are displayed in the DGM game window. If DGM finds a size missmatch for some reason it will fail to complete the connection. (Exodius, you said something about seeing the game list for a moment before the news came back up.) But the only way to know if DGM is having a problem getting its own working data is to turn on the debug switch. Here is how:
Go to where you start the DGM from. I have a DGM shortcut on my desktop, but I don't remember if installing DGM put it there or if I did. Otherwise it should be in your "start" path (from the desktop, "start" -> "programs" -> "Stardock drengin.net" -> "Drengin Game Manager". Right click on it to bring up the short cut's menu, then right click on the "properties" entry. This will bring up a window that describes the characteristics of the shortcut style window containing two tabs "general" and "shortcut". Under the "shortcut" tab are a number of headings including "target type", "target location", and "target". By default the content of the field next to the label "target" will have "E:\Drengin.net\Loader.exe" To this add the debug switch "/d" so it looks like "E:\Drengin.net\Loader.exe /d". (Please note that I have my DGM on my "E:" disk, so part of the information may be different on yours. The only thing you need do is add the "/d" to it.)
Now, restart your DGM. Wait for it to come completely up. Then use your "my computer" function to go to the directory where your DGM is loaded (mine is "E:\drengin.net", as seen by the "target" field above). In that directory you will find a file "debug.err". View that file with a file editor (I find "notepad" best for this type of file). There will be a lot of stuff there, but with careful scrutiny it may be possible to find any errors DGM ran into.
Let me know if any of this was useful.
Cheers,