Thanks for replying, it's a yes to all those questions. I've not had this issue before.
I'm using Skymax pro plugin and it wants to connect to validate the licence but it can't. When I choose to match real world weather in the flight confutation it fails. I've tried turning the plugin off and it does download the weather. I'm now pretty sure it's an issue with SkyMax Pro not being compatible with the latest version of X-Plane. Your message helped me to realse the issue is not with X-Plane. Thanks