gtalk is offline. can't go invisible

i have an issue where my gtalk status always says offline, and I am unable to change this or go invisible. i've tried restarting my computer... i am still "offline." and unable to go invisible. The error I receive from gmail is that I am logged into another instance of gtalk that does not support invisible. the only possible explanation is ping.fm. i've removed gtalk from ping and when that didnt work i went as far as to delete my ping account... I still appear offline.

please help!