Which distribution and version are you using?

Could you try to run "EMPATHY_DEBUG=all empathy-accounts" and attach logs please?

I'm using Archlinux. Package info:

$ pacman -Qi empathy 
Name           : empathy
Version        : 2.32.0.1-1
URL            : http://live.gnome.org/Empathy
Licenses       : GPL2
Groups         : gnome-extra
Provides       : None
Depends On     : telepathy-glib>=0.12.0  telepathy-mission-control>=5.6.0  folks>=0.2.0  telepathy-logger>=0.1.5  telepathy-farsight>=0.0.15  gnome-keyring>=2.32.0  gnutls
                 gconf>=2.32.0  evolution-data-server>=2.31.92  libcanberra>=0.25  libnotify  libunique  enchant  iso-codes  libwebkit  dconf>=0.5.1
Optional Deps  : telepathy-gabble: XMPP/Jabber support
                 telepathy-butterfly: MSN support
                 telepathy-idle: IRC support
                 telepathy-salut: Link-local XMPP support
                 telepathy-sofiasip: SIP support
                 telepathy-haze: libpurple support
Required By    : None
Conflicts With : None
Replaces       : None
Installed Size : 14892.00 K
Packager       : Ionut Biru <ibiru@archlinux.org>
Architecture   : i686
Build Date     : Mon 04 Oct 2010 04:39:24 PM CEST
Install Date   : Mon 04 Oct 2010 07:39:56 PM CEST
Install Reason : Explicitly installed
Install Script : Yes
Description    : A GNOME instant messaging client using the Telepathy framework.


Output:

EMPATHY_DEBUG=all empathy-accounts
(empathy-accounts:8077): tp-glib/proxy-DEBUG: tp_proxy_constructor: 0xa06dc20: request 0x9f28650 represents core features
(empathy-accounts:8077): tp-glib/proxy-DEBUG: tp_proxy_borrow_interface_by_id: 0xa06dc20: org.freedesktop.Telepathy.AccountManager DBusGProxy is 0xa06e410
(empathy-accounts:8077): tp-glib/proxy-DEBUG: tp_proxy_borrow_interface_by_id: 0xa06dc20: org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties DBusGProxy is 0xa06e4b8
(empathy-accounts:8077): tp-glib/proxy-DEBUG: tp_proxy_poll_features: 0xa06dc20: core features not ready yet, nothing prepared
(empathy-accounts:8077): tp-glib/proxy-DEBUG: noc_idle_context_invoke: NameOwnerChanged(org.freedesktop.Telepathy.AccountManager,  -> :1.299)
(empathy-accounts:8077): tp-glib/proxy-DEBUG: tp_proxy_poll_features: 0xa06dc20: request 0x9f28650 prepared
(empathy-accounts:8077): tp-glib/proxy-DEBUG: tp_proxy_poll_features: 0xa06dc20: core features ready
(empathy-accounts:8077): tp-glib/proxy-DEBUG: tp_proxy_prepare_request_finish: 0x9f28650
(empathy-accounts:8077): tp-glib/proxy-DEBUG: tp_proxy_poll_features: 0xa06dc20: request 0x9f48050 prepared
(empathy-accounts:8077): tp-glib/proxy-DEBUG: tp_proxy_prepare_request_finish: 0x9f48050

And nothing happens, looks like it hangs.

Is mission-control-5 running?

Yes, it is running.

[uthark@solweig-notebook ~] 6401% ps aux | grep mission
uthark    5705  0.4  0.1   7100  3292 ?        SL   19:59   0:00 /usr/lib/telepathy/mission-control-5
uthark    5718  0.0  0.0   5180   820 pts/2    S+   20:00   0:00 egrep mission

Can you kill it and start it using "MC_DEBUG=all /usr/lib/telepathy/mission-control-5" then attach logs.

I did it. you can access logs here: http://uthark.pastebin.com/aYMLvxC0

I investigated the logs... After I've installed telepathy-salut empathy started to work with accounts.

But it seems that empathy should detect such situation, if this package is optional. And if it is required, then I will blame Archlinux maintainers.

You meant that you didn't have any Telepathy connection manager installed ? Just Empathy and mission-control ?

Exactly. After I installed  the following packages:
 telepathy-salut (0.4.0-1)
 telepathy-gabble (0.10.3-1)
 python-telepathy (0.15.18-2)
 telepathy-butterfly (0.5.14-4)
 telepathy-haze (0.4.0-1)
 telepathy-idle (0.1.6-2)
 sofia-sip (1.12.10-2)
 telepathy-sofiasip (0.6.3-1)

Empathy started to work. I guess one of this dependencies is *required* for empathy, not *optional*. If it so, then I should report issue to archlinux packagers.

And if these dependencies are optional, then it is bug in empathy, because it doesn't work without at least one of the packages, which provide connection manager.

Strictly speaking neither is requiered but it doesn't make sense to have Empathy without at least one CM.
For example, Ubuntu's empathy package recommends telepathy-gabble, telepathy-salut, telepathy-haze and telepathy-butterfly.

I think, if none of CM is installed, then empathy should clearly notify user about such situation. So it will not be confusing.

Thanks for the bug report. This particular bug has already been reported into our bug tracking system, but please feel free to report any further bugs you find.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 615888 ***