The short version

The Market application on my HTC Aria Android phone would not download any new applications or application updates. I fixed it by performing a hard reset on the phone (resetting it to factory defaults) and then configured the phone to use a Google account that had Google Talk enabled. At that point, I could once again download applications.

The long version

This morning, I needed to download an application on my HTC Aria. The Market quickly stated that it was starting the download. Thirty minutes later, it continued to say "Starting Download". While poking around in the Market, I wound up on a screen that showed 3 other downloads (e.g., Google Maps, Kindle, and Nook) that were still "starting". Basically, the downloads were stuck and had been stuck for days. Argh!

Tonight I spent quite some time researching this problem. A Google search led me to articles stating this was related to Google Talk. There were also some message boards talking about the same issue. Some people were able to successfully download from the Android Market after signing into Google Talk. For many others, this had no effect. Some people mentioned doing a hard reset.

When I first used my phone, I connected it to my primary Google account. It's worth noting that this particular account is a free Google Apps account which does *not* have access to Google Talk. In the hopes that signing into Google Talk through my phone would solve the problem, I enabled Google Talk for my secondary Google account and added that account to the phone. No effect.

I tried a couple other things such as uninstalling updates for the Market application and clearing its data. Again, no effect.

The solution: I performed a hard reset on the phone. As I walked through the set up process, I skipped adding a Google account. Then I opened the Market application. It required me to sign into a Google account. I signed in using my primary account credentials. This time, the phone displayed a message saying that the account could not be used because it does not have access to Google Talk.

Interesting.

I re-authenticated with Google using the secondary account with access to Google Talk. I then went to Market and successfully downloaded the application.