Ralph,

Thanks. I've deleted all icons, yet all showed up fine. I've gone through ever suggestion you and others have made here. But I still have a problem as iChatAgent ***** up memory and brings my i7 iMac to its knees making it unusable if I have to use iChat.

What else can i do?

Hi,

So iChat and the support Folders have been Reinstalled and Updated by Installing the COMBO.

Both the Recent Pictures and Buddy Pic store have been deleted.

Accounts have been deleted from iChat and added back one at a time (with only partial success)

Did you do this bit:- ?

In the Address Book check your own My Card (the Head and Shoulders icon)

Is this your correct details ?

If not find your Card and then use the Card Menu > Make this My Card option.
That would be my third choice.

After that Go to iChat > Preferences > Alerts
Check the top drop and set it to every action in turn

Do any of the option have an AppleScript set against them ?

If so turn the AppleScript bit Off.

If the Buddy List Status Message is set to show the iTunes detail change that to a standard Status Message.

If you have any Status Message that is really long, click the current Status Message and use the Edit option at the bottom to then Edit /Delete it.

Check the iChat > Preferences > General Section and turn Off Animate Buddy pics if On.

Address Book card is now my current favourite for your issue.

Possibly Applescript set against an action for alerts is second.

Some items are carry-ons from there.

THe last two items (next) could be a nightmare to check depening how many Buddies you have.

Highlight a Buddy and then use the CMD and i keys (Get info).

Check if they are set to Show their Address Book Entry.

Check all these pics (Probably easier to set them to the iChat icon rather than find them as it is metadata in the Address Card).

Also check that they do not have Individual Alerts/Actions set against them here including AppleScript.

(this bit alone is 12 checks per Buddy).

At this point I would be running out of ideas.

It will not mean that I am  giving up.

Learning will start.

It is late where I am and there will now be  a gap before I pick up replies.

10:55 PM      Tuesday; July 12, 2011

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.7),

"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Hi -

Everything you've got here I've done. Except I'm not sure what you mean by

Check to see if they are set to Show their address book entry. Many of my buddies are linked to the Address Book. Not all.

I don't have AppleScript, or iTunes status or Animation etc. This is a vanilla iChat account. I've only got one account working now. All others have been eliminated.

I dont' see how to default to the default 'running' image, I only see "Use only this picture" which for the handful I've looked at, isn't selected.

Ok,

This Pic has my Address Book at the back with the Buddy I am looking shown (Apple Test01)

Layered on top of that is the iChat Info Card for that same Buddy.

Included in the pic is also the Buddy List with the same Buddy highlighted

A Pic has been added to the Address Book.

It shows in the Info Card but NOT in the Buddy list.

Aside from the more common issue regarding the Address Book of your Details not being marked as the My Card - I am suggesting that, related to the Buddy Pics option, that  a Buddy is marked to have the Address Book pic as their pic in iChat and that it is this that it is faulty or possibly the Address Book has lost contact with it.

For iChat to Display either the Running Man for AIM names or the Blue Globe for @mac.com names or the Blue and White MobileMe pic iChat must not get a pic from the Buddy (or have it passed by the server)

That is to say if AIM does not send you a Buddy Pic then the iChat Software defaults to a Pic for the Buddy Type.

There is one other way and that is when the Buddy chooses the Default type pic from their end by Clicking on the Current Buddy Pic they have and choosing the Default pic bottom right in their Recent Pic display.

iChatAgent

iChatAgent does various jobs.

If you start up your Computer but not iChat iChatAgent is still started.

At this point it is listening to the Servers (mostly AIM) and will start iChat if someone sends you an IM.

As far as the Server end is concerned this is an Off Line IM as you were not (fully) logged in (unless you set not to receive Off Line IMs) and the server will try to send it which in turn effectively wakes iChat.

As iChat starts it also talks to the other AIM servers (there is a separate one for the Buddy pics) and helps get that info in to iChat.

It will first load the Cached Pictures from your Home Folder and then the server will update them if required.

It also holds your Profile Info.  (you can see what is currently stored from the iChat Menu > Change My Profile)

It will check the server that is on an sync any changes made elsewhere.

It holds the iTunes  Artist, Song andTitle in whatever order they are current set up to display as.

It is this .plist that hold whether the Camera, Mic and Screen Sharing are On or Off.

It also holds the info as to whether the "Software camera" that creates the Desktop as Feed is enabled/In use

Because of the interlinked nature of iChat, iChatAgent and the other support items there are other factors that get involved.

As AIM call all forms of lists involving Buddies "Feedbags" and the Buddies themselves as "Food"

The Buddy List itself as Screen Names only is held at the AIM Servers.

The Address Book is another Feedbag that holds the Real Names.

It is iChat that puts these together as it were but relies on iChatAgent to load the correct pics as it is iChatAgent that is dealing with the Buddy Pic server.

Mostly faults with Buddy Pics cause the issue.

Obviously Faults with the Address Book also play a part.

The most common of these is that Your My Card is not the "right" one.  (it is what helps change your Name (As the Address Book) to Handle  at the top of the Buddy List.

iChat passes these jobs off while it gets on with doing whizzy things like displaying the Buddy List Window(s) opening.

iChat will not open properly if some Fonts are not present or are Not Active.

Helvetica is used to Display the Status Mesages of Buddies

Lucida Grande is used to Display the Buddy Names themselves.

Check these in the Font Book.

If the Buddy list can't open because the Fonts are messed up them I can see iChatAgent may be getting stuck as it as nowhere to put the Buddy pics and other info.

The only time I have seen iChatAgent go CPU crazy in on a corrupt Buddy pic.

Have have not personally tried to mess with the My Card in the Address Book but I do know that this causes iChat as a whole to baulk starting up  (I have never seen anyone say their computer is slow or report looking at the Activity Monitor but people rarely do)

Fonts cause iChat to not function but again I have not see anyone report seeing iChatAgent being a problem at the same time in the Activity Monitor.

Regarding the last two.  I am not saying it does not happen but that rather I don't have any record of anyone reporting it or a general slowness and for that reason think they are less likely.

However as iChatAgent is running around in the background checking which pictures to Load, updating those from the server, doing the actual login along the way it will be difficult to pin down the exact problem.

New but Old

One strange one from a long time ago.

See this
The info is from a post on th Apple Forums at a time when the Posts were removed from view.

Basically it sayus that as well as the normal viewable content of the Address Folder in your Home Folder/Library/Application Support there are some Invisible files.

The Poster Used a Utiility to View them and found that he had no permission to Read let alone Write to this Files which in tunr was messing with every app that has access to the Address Book

Sort of summary.

I think iChatAgent is having trouble fetching or parsing some bit of info.

We seem to have excluded Buddy Pics from the iChat Cache Folder.

That leaves the Address book as next on the list.

This could be  simple access issue or some problem with the data in it including the Pics linked to Contacts (Even if IChat is not using them they are going to get checked).

Is it possible you have two cards for one contact (Such as a work Address and Home Addres with different Emails for an example as well) but have the same iChat Name in there ?

Other Apple apps that don't launch properly would tend to highlight a Font issue

One Article  It was written some time ago and certainly iChat 4 and 5 no longer pop up that message when it happens but realistically it still applies

Kurt Lang ( a regular Poster here ) used to have  Users Tip on Fonts.

He has now moved the info to here

9:15 PM      Wednesday; July 13, 2011

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.7),

"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Ralph -

Well no movement here. Thanks so much for your time and effort in trying to figure this out. At this point all I've got is a dead iChat. When I open it it just launches but all menus are grayed out. That is, the only active menus are those generic with the exception of Recent Items which shows one chat, which was a test chat I did a few days ago when the memory hog was in full force.

But clicking on that has no affect whatsoever.

stumped in California

Hi,

If you delete com.apple.ichat.plist itself then the Recents list gets cleared as well as resetting things in the Preferences to their Default settings.

OK try this.

Quit iChat if running.

Open Terminal and paste the bold text below in to the window

/Applications/iChat.app/Contents/MacOS/iChat -errorLogLevel 7

Hit Enter

This will cause Terminal to Launch iChat  and create a log of what it is doing as it goes.

The Log should pause when the Buddy list has loaded  (Some details about CommNAT checks, Ports, IP address and so on)

At this point Quit iChat in the normal way.

Copy All the Log and Paste it in to TextEdit

Remove your details from near the top (if it lists your Screen name)

Edit the IP address at the bottom  (Give me some indication as to the Group it is in such as the first two numbers)

I would also look in Console (Applications/Utilities) and see if there are nay messages about iChatAgent.

9:55 PM      Monday; July 18, 2011

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),

"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Hey Ralph -

Thanks again. Not running iChat cause my computer becomes unusable when i do. But I tried  your Terminal trick and launched iChat as you noted and captured this log (I didn't see an IP address other than the NAT address from the wireless router and no binary images was in the log; also, no messages in console) Here is what I get:

 

 

myname$ /Applications/iChat.app/Contents/MacOS/iChat -errorLogLevel 7

164013.427730 ER_AddFilter (0): Adding [my-name@127.0.0.1]->[0]

164013.427760 setLocalUserName: my-name@127.0.0.1

164013.483782 Default video size is (640 x 480)

164013.486309 H264: (640 x 480) @ 30 fps

164013.490758 H264: (320 x 240) @ 30 fps

164013.495523 H263: (352 x 288) @ 30 fps

164013.498010 H263: (176 x 144) @ 30 fps

164013.498722 ######################################

164013.498735 # SoundDec_Create(16000 --> 3) #

164013.498741 ######################################

164013.677744 Leaving SoundDec_Create

164013.789415 Audio Unit Parameter List = 7, result = 0

164013.789444 CurrentFormatmSampleRate       44100.000000

164013.789455 CurrentFormatmFormatID         lpcm

164013.789458 CurrentFormatmFormatFlags      0x00000029

164013.789461 CurrentFormatmBytesPerPacket   4

164013.789464 CurrentFormatmFramesPerPacket  1

164013.789467 CurrentFormatmBytesPerFrame    4

164013.789470 CurrentFormatmChannelsPerFrame 2

164013.789472 CurrentFormatmBitsPerChannel   32

164013.789476 OurFormatmSampleRate       16000.000000

164013.789479 OurFormatmFormatID         lpcm

164013.789482 OurFormatmFormatFlags      0x00000029

164013.789485 OurFormatmBytesPerPacket   4

164013.789488 OurFormatmFramesPerPacket  1

164013.789491 OurFormatmBytesPerFrame    4

164013.789493 OurFormatmChannelsPerFrame 1

164013.789496 OurFormatmBitsPerChannel   32

164013.789501 Reached err = 4294956417, 459

164013.789504 Reached err = 4294956417, 467

164013.812757 ### NEW STATE: to: VC_INIT, from: VC_INVALID

164013.812794 ### NEW STATE: to: VC_IDLE, from: VC_INIT

164013.812815 ++++++++++ confStatusMapRemoveAll

164013.812820 ( ) -- mapUserIDToSecurityInfo cleared --

164013.813087 dispatch_CommNATProc

164013.946246 selectedCamera: no camera has been set yet.

164013.946269 Selected microphone is the null device microphone.

164013.946589 vcCapabilitiesOfCPU returns: 0x00000fff

164013.946730 BWD: GotBandwidth: 4070175/2211630 (up/down) @[2.1.168.192:0.255.255.255]

164013.946755 BWD bandwidth: 4070 kbits up, 2211 kbits down.

164013.946762 videoNetworkCapable: 1 -- 3 max participants.

164013.946767 audioNetworkCapable: 1 -- 9 max participants.

164013.946771 Supports PCMU wideband for audio: 1 / video: 1

164013.946788 vcCapabilitiesOfNetwork returns: 0x00000fff

164013.946798 vcCapabilitiesOfRouter returns: 0x00000000

164013.946803 vcCapabilities returns: 0x00000fff

164013.947360 Found 2 cameras:

164013.947390      Apple Screen Input Device -                0-Apple ScreenInputDevice (0x101, 0x200)

164013.947439      Built-in iSight - 0xfd11000005ac8502 (0x105, 0x0)

164013.947458 selectedCamera: no camera has been set yet.

164013.947490 selectCameraWithTundraDeviceID: 0x105 returned 1

164013.952047 Microphone devices:

164013.952142     Internal microphone

164013.952218     Line In

164013.952297     FireWire 410 Multichannel

164013.952521 Selected mic: Built-in Microphone / imic

164013.952565 Found 2 cameras:

164013.952582      Apple Screen Input Device -                0-Apple ScreenInputDevice (0x101, 0x200)

164013.952617      Built-in iSight - 0xfd11000005ac8502 (0x105, 0x0)

164013.952657 selectedCamera2 GUID returned Built-in iSight

164013.952679 selectCameraWithTundraDeviceID: 0x105 returned 1

164013.957168 Microphone devices:

164013.957248     Internal microphone

164013.957304     Line In

164013.957360     FireWire 410 Multichannel

164013.957557 Selected mic: Built-in Microphone / imic

164014.013630 Comm reporting flags: 00000112

164014.044675 CommNAT result:

External IP: 68.105.84.69

External Ports: 16403, 16403, 16403

CNAT_BADTEST ....... 0

CNAT_ISFULLCONE .... 1

CNAT_ISPAT ......... 0

CNAT_ISPATHOST ..... 0

CNAT_TRYPRESERVE ... 1

CNAT_PATINORDER .... 0

CNAT_BLOCKIP ....... 0

CNAT_BLOCKPORT ..... 0

CNAT_LOOPBACK ...... 1

164015.090230 Received VCHardwareCapsChangeNotification

2011-07-19 16:40:15.090 iChat[4091:903] Hardware Caps Dictionary: {

    HasCamera = 1;

    HasDV = 0;

    HasMic = 0;

    HasQ8 = 0;

    Q8List =     (

    );

}

164015.090777 Found 2 cameras:

164015.090805      Apple Screen Input Device -                0-Apple ScreenInputDevice (0x101, 0x200)

164015.090847      Built-in iSight - 0xfd11000005ac8502 (0x105, 0x0)

164015.095589 Microphone devices:

164015.095693     Internal microphone

164015.095792     Line In

164015.095874     FireWire 410 Multichannel

164015.095954 selectedCamera2 GUID returned Built-in iSight

164015.096136 Selected microphone is Internal microphone.

164015.096204 vcCapabilitiesOfCPU returns: 0x00000fff

164015.096344 BWD: GotBandwidth: 4070175/2211630 (up/down) @[2.1.168.192:0.255.255.255]

164015.096368 BWD bandwidth: 4070 kbits up, 2211 kbits down.

164015.096376 videoNetworkCapable: 1 -- 3 max participants.

164015.096381 audioNetworkCapable: 1 -- 9 max participants.

164015.096386 Supports PCMU wideband for audio: 1 / video: 1

164015.096403 vcCapabilitiesOfNetwork returns: 0x00000fff

164015.096412 vcCapabilitiesOfRouter returns: 0x00001000

164015.096418 vcCapabilities returns: 0x00001fff

164015.096499 Found 2 cameras:

164015.096523      Apple Screen Input Device -                0-Apple ScreenInputDevice (0x101, 0x200)

164015.096560      Built-in iSight - 0xfd11000005ac8502 (0x105, 0x0)

164015.096598 selectedCamera2 GUID returned Built-in iSight

164015.096619 selectCameraWithTundraDeviceID: 0x105 returned 1

164015.102179 Microphone devices:

164015.102306     Internal microphone

164015.102390     Line In

164015.102473     FireWire 410 Multichannel

164015.102743 Selected mic: Built-in Microphone / imic

164015.507089 Selected microphone is Internal microphone.

164015.507394 Selected microphone is Internal microphone.

164015.507634 Selected microphone is Internal microphone.

164016.006359 Received VCHardwareCapsChangeNotification

2011-07-19 16:40:16.006 iChat[4091:15f03] Exception writing metadata: CoreData could not fulfill a fault for '0x114576c70 <x-coredata://7F851140-FEC3-4EA0-B658-4751A2DC784C/ABCDPhoneNumber/p8906>'

2011-07-19 16:40:16.006 iChat[4091:903] Hardware Caps Dictionary: {

    HasCamera = 1;

    HasDV = 0;

    HasMic = 0;

    HasQ8 = 0;

    Q8List =     (

    );

}

164016.006665 Found 2 cameras:

164016.006681      Apple Screen Input Device -                0-Apple ScreenInputDevice (0x101, 0x200)

164016.006711      Built-in iSight - 0xfd11000005ac8502 (0x105, 0x0)

164016.012676 Microphone devices:

164016.012792     Internal microphone

164016.012870     Line In

164016.012956     FireWire 410 Multichannel

164016.013035 selectedCamera2 GUID returned Built-in iSight

164016.013216 Selected microphone is Internal microphone.

164016.013276 vcCapabilitiesOfCPU returns: 0x00000fff

164016.013392 BWD: GotBandwidth: 4070175/2211630 (up/down) @[2.1.168.192:0.255.255.255]

164016.013411 BWD bandwidth: 4070 kbits up, 2211 kbits down.

164016.013418 videoNetworkCapable: 1 -- 3 max participants.

164016.013423 audioNetworkCapable: 1 -- 9 max participants.

164016.013428 Supports PCMU wideband for audio: 1 / video: 1

164016.013444 vcCapabilitiesOfNetwork returns: 0x00000fff

164016.013451 vcCapabilitiesOfRouter returns: 0x00001000

164016.013456 vcCapabilities returns: 0x00001fff

164016.013520 Found 2 cameras:

164016.013544      Apple Screen Input Device -                0-Apple ScreenInputDevice (0x101, 0x200)

164016.013581      Built-in iSight - 0xfd11000005ac8502 (0x105, 0x0)

164016.013617 selectedCamera2 GUID returned Built-in iSight

164016.013636 selectCameraWithTundraDeviceID: 0x105 returned 1

164016.018797 Microphone devices:

164016.018886     Internal microphone

164016.018945     Line In

164016.019007     FireWire 410 Multichannel

164016.019283 Selected mic: Built-in Microphone / imic

164016.020013 Selected microphone is Internal microphone.

2011-07-19 16:40:16.023 iChat[4091:15f03] Exception writing metadata: CoreData could not fulfill a fault for '0x11cee4360 <x-coredata://7F851140-FEC3-4EA0-B658-4751A2DC784C/ABCDContact/p1522>'

 

 

 

Message was edited by: MacMyDays

Hi,

From order in the Log.

These two lines

164013.946730 BWD: GotBandwidth: 4070175/2211630 (up/down) @[2.1.168.192:0.255.255.255]

164013.946755 BWD bandwidth: 4070 kbits up, 2211 kbits down.

One is how iChat reads the Bandwidth.

The other is in a more readable format.

The Upload is close to 4Mbps  and the Download is around 2Mbps.  (it is not an exact decimal place shift)

It is not crucial but it is unusual to have the Upload faster than the download.

This suggests that either your computer or a device on your LAN is using some of the bandwidth that would normally be there.

Once the Buddy list is loaded then it would normally stop here

External Ports: 16403, 16403, 16403

CNAT_BADTEST ....... 0

CNAT_ISFULLCONE .... 1

CNAT_ISPAT ......... 0

CNAT_ISPATHOST ..... 0

CNAT_TRYPRESERVE ... 1

CNAT_PATINORDER .... 0

CNAT_BLOCKIP ....... 0

CNAT_BLOCKPORT ..... 0

CNAT_LOOPBACK ...... 1

The Port listsed is the one iChat does the Bnadwidth check on.

The ones and zeros are Yeses and Nos.

i.e Your Router is Full Cone and the ports and IP are not blocked.

This FireWire 410 device puzzles me

164016.018797 Microphone devices:

164016.018886     Internal microphone

164016.018945     Line In

164016.019007     FireWire 410

It is the "Wrong" speed for FireWire  for one and is also showing as a potential Audio Input device.

The 410 may refer to a model number of some MIDI device you have connected.

IF it is a MIDI device use the MIDI Audtio Set up utility in Applications/Utilities and set the sample rate to 41000  if you are going to use a Mic attached there for iChat.

The Real issue though is Here:-

Chat[4091:15f03] Exception writing metadata: CoreData could not fulfill a fault for '0x114576c70 <x-coredata://7F851140-FEC3-4EA0-B658-4751A2DC784C/ABCDPhoneNumber/p8906>'

 

 

The ABCDPhoneNumber bit looks like a reference to an Address Book entry where the Phone Number may not be entered in the format assoicated with your International Settings (System Preferences)

CoreData itself is a CoreData.framework item in Hard Drive/System/Library/Frameworks

It's job is to do with handling Databases of which the Address Book is one

(See Here)

In Your Home Folder/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/Metadata are the actual cards. (AddressBook Person Data or vCards)

They may dispaly as the Picture associated the each Address Book Entry.

I don't have my Address Book synced with a Phone and this may be why I don't have any ABCDPhoneNumber entries

You will notice however the Naming/Numbering format is similar to the Error.
You may be able to Identify the card that is potentially the cause that way.

(The Last repeat in the Log changes the info at the end to "ABCDContact" but uses the same number so it looks like just one card that has an issue)

At this point I cannot be more specific as I am at the edge of my knowledge.

I hope this points you in the right direction.

8:14 PM      Wednesday; July 20, 2011

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),

"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

okay. Seems I just lost my post....

1) FireWire Device is a FireWire Audio interface. Used to connect microphones to system, use in GarageBand and once used in Skype Call. Never for the iChat

Not a MIDI device which are typically USB, and I have no MIDI Setup Utility app on my system

2) Not sure on bandwidth but I'll look at this. Maybe when I ran the Terminal app I was downloading or something.

3) Address book entry. I'm poking around the metadata and cannot find that number FEC3-4EA0. I have nearly 1500 entries. I also use Contactizer an app that shares the address book data and more.

Perhaps that is the offending address/picture or something. But can't find it.

I know there is a way to tell the Apple Spotlight search to include library and system files in search, but can't find out how to tell it to look. I'd love to do a search and find that card and delete it and see if my problem goes away. There are cards close but even a sort is finding it. I wonder if the order is changed from the Terminal display?

Allan

Hey - I was able to figure how to search system files, however this particular string of numbers didn't product anything except a console entry and my email message string with you:

2011-07-14 14:07:21.673 Scrivener[7611:7727] Exception writing metadata: CoreData could not fulfill a fault for '0x18a6a850 <x-coredata://7F851140-FEC3-4EA0-B658-4751A2DC784C/ABCDPhoneNumber/p8906>'

2011-07-14 14:07:21.718 Scrivener[7611:7727] Exception writing metadata: CoreData could not fulfill a fault for '0x18a5e870 <x-coredata://7F851140-FEC3-4EA0-B658-4751A2DC784C/ABCDContact/p1522>'

Scrivener is an app for writing (word processing on steroids for essay, novels etc.)

That's strange.

I think this is our demon:

7F851140-FEC3-4EA0-B658-4751A2DC784C/ABCDPhoneNumber/p8906

Because there is no file anywhere on my computer either filename or contents other than our communication. I've tried other strings from other address book meta or images and found them easy enough. But this does not exist on my system  Would it be possible to duplicate another file and rename it with this string?  Is the system just going around and around and hogging memory trying to make sense of this?  I'm lost.

Hi,

I see you have sorted out a Spotlight Search.

Re 1) I should have said it was Audio MIDI Setup  (I always get it's name wrong)

It's the one with the Keyboard type icon in the Utilities folder.

Re 2) Understood

Also check what apps are running in the Activity Monitor (Also in the Utilities folder)

Re 3)  If you have a Console Log also listing the same file by being accessed by a different app then there may be a conflict.

Is Scrivener Open ?

Is it listed in The Activity Monitor as Active even if you have not Started it ? (Or part of it like iChatAgent is always running for iChat).

The Log did mention it was related to writing an Error.
The Address Book keeps but does not display the Buddies you have that are Screen Name Only ones.

It does mean that iChatAgent is at least looking for

7F851140-FEC3-4EA0-B658-4751A2DC784C/ABCDPhoneNumber/p8906

as well and it will do so repeatedly as the Log show using up Processing power.

Have you even had the computer logged in to a Server that held an Address Book you could Access ?

(Directory Access or Similar via the Address Book)

That might explain why it is not on your Computer and why the Network seems to be in use.

10:14 PM      Wednesday; July 20, 2011

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),

"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Ahhh. Yes. I shoulda looked re: Audio MIDI, thanks and that was all good, btw.

I'm not sure at the time if Scrivener was open, but it's likely it was. But it's odd that it too was looking or writing an address book item. I don't believe that app has any integration or sharing of services with address book.

The only server that I might log into is my MobileMe account. I have a desktop and a laptop, the desktop was set up using migration assistant from the laptop, the two machines mirror most things. And I was able to replicate the iChat memory and processory hogging on the laptop today.

I got to thinking that you felt strong about address book/buddy list entry. And that the string 7F85… looked like all those entries in the system/library folder. So I thought what if I just delete all of my buddies in buddy list? I couldn't do this with iChat because iChat just stalls my computer due to the aforementioned issue.

So I downloaded the AIM client. The newest version 2.xx of AIM client is nice but has no export capability when it comes to Buddy List. I wanted at least to have a back up of that buddy list. So I found an old copy of AIM 4.7 which has the ability to export and import AIM buddy lists.

I exported the full list and then deleted all the buddies.

I quit AIM 4.7 and launched iChat and kept my eyes glued on Activity Monitor. Success!!!

Machine ran fine for 20 minutes with no unusual I/O or disk access or CPU drain.

So I reimported the list just to see if the mere act of export and reimport would solve issue. I was wrong. The machine crawled. And activity monitor rampant. IT's the buddy list. But what?

I loaded up AIM 2.xx again and deleted specific buddies- those that were saved when I entered a phone number to send SMS-- many of these entered in old version of iChat requiring a command-shift N to start a new chat as SMS; now iChat has a menu item. These phone numbers were saved as buddies. It's likely at some point i deleted them from my address book; as they always would appear at the top and didn't have names associated with them, in most cases.

I then exported the buddy list sans phone numbers using 4.7 of AIM and then with 2.xx I deleted all those buddies with phone numbers.

Then I launched iChat and voila! iChat agent is using 8MB of real memory and about 36MB of virtual memory.

Seems that the problem must be that there is a phone number that was in the buddy list but there was no corresponding entry to my address book.

Now I'm not sure if you must have an address book entry for every buddy, seems that you shouldn't. So I don't know if this problem could be replicated by deleting an address book entry of a buddy, but the buddy still is in the Buddy List on iChat/AIM. As such, this endless loop and ultimate bringing my mac to a crawl could be a bug in the iChat code.

Now I guess I can do the update to Lion, because I wasn't going to mess with it until this issue was resolved.

I think it is, Ralph. And thank you for your continued support and tenacity to solving a problem that seemed, at one point, unsolvable.

Time for a beer. I If you were around I'd buy you a pint!

Allan

STOP THE PRESSES. close the beer taps...

nope. I was wrong. it took more than an hour to reveal itself again, but the problem is back:

And again, I'm at a loss.

Hi,

I have been messing with iChat since iChat 2

I never tried adding numbers back then (as in Phone Numbers) and was unaware that at some point the method of getting them in there had changed.  (IQC Numbers were different)

At one point though I am sure Buddies were added to the Address Book with their Screen Name only if that was all you had.  ( A bit like your Address Book not showing those iChat Buddies that had Phone Numbers only.)

The change later seemed to be that @Mac.com Buddies got listed as Email Contacts (Even without First Name Last Name)

I have one current Contact that shows this way for  Jabber Buddy

Pic of same but with a Jabber Buddy

Has the info in Console or the log from /Applications/iChat.app/Contents/MacOS/iChat -errorLogLevel 7 iChat Launch indicate anything other than Phone number ?

Scriven might have the abilitiy to Mail Merge or access the Address Book to Add someone's address if you were writing to them.

7:27 PM      Friday; July 22, 2011

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),

"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously