SA-MP not working? Read here first.

I get the error "San Andreas cannot be found"
San Andreas Multi-player is not a stand-alone program! It adds multi-player functionality to San Andreas, and thus you need GTA San Andreas for the PC - it also needs to be EU/US v1.0, other versions such as v2.0 or Steam and Direct2Drive versions will not work.

I can not see any servers in SA-MP browser
First off, ensure you are following the procedures set out in the Quick-start guide. If you have followed what it says, and still cannot see any servers, you must allow SA:MP access through your firewall. Unfortunately, due to the large amount of available firewall software, we can not offer further support on this - we suggest looking at the manufacturers website or trying a Google search. Also make sure you have the latest SA:MP version!

Single Player Loads instead of SA:MP
YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO SEE THE SINGLE PLAYER OPTIONS (NEW GAME, LOAD GAME, ETC) - SA:MP SHOULD LOAD BY ITSELF AND NOT PRESENT THESE OPTIONS. IF YOU SEE "NEW GAME" SINGLE PLAYER HAS LOADED, NOT SAN ANDREAS MULTIPLAYER.
Single Player can load for 2 reasons - you have installed SA:MP to the wrong folder or you have the wrong version of San Andreas. If you have the wrong version it's easy to fix. Download this patch that downgrades it to the right version. Click here to download the patch.

I get "BAD NICKNAME" when connecting to server
Ensure you are using no disallowed characters in your name (use 0-9, a-z, [], (), $, @, ., = only), and that your name is no longer than 20 characters long. This also could be caused when a player is on a server with the same name as you or if you try connecting to the server immediately after timing out.

Screen sticks at "Connecting to ip:port..."
The server could be offline, or if you cant connect to any server, disable your firewall and see if it works. If it does you must set up your firewall properly - go to its website to find out how. It could also be that you have an old version of SA-MP, download the latest version from the SA-MP download page.

I have a modified GTA: San Andreas, and my SA:MP won't load
If it wont load then remove your mods. More information why mods can cause issues with your game can be found here

When launching GTA with SA:MP it wont start
Delete the gta_sa.set file from your userfiles folder and make sure you don't have any cheats/mods.