Hunaidi

Q: Dictation not working on Mountain Lion?

I enabled dictation on my mac through the System Preferences. First I tried going to notes and pressed the fn key twice, the Siri like mic appeared and I began to say simple words such us "hello" "how are you" and pressed done. The thre dots appeared for a few seconds then the 'three dots' went left to right and nothing appeared. I've tried this on notes, microsoft word, and also while typing this discussion. Any ideas?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Jul 25, 2012 3:27 PM

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Q: Dictation not working on Mountain Lion?

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  • by ml314hk,

    ml314hk ml314hk Aug 2, 2012 2:11 AM in response to loyking
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2012 2:11 AM in response to loyking

    I think I have the same problem as @loyking has, and I did a clean restore already, but dictation still doesn't work, the 'com.apple.assistant.plist' files still have missing lines, and now I have to spend hours restoring my files back to my MBP through time machine. hope apple will finally fix that

  • by loyking,

    loyking loyking Aug 2, 2012 7:01 AM in response to ml314hk
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 2, 2012 7:01 AM in response to ml314hk

    While waiting for AppleCare to get back to me, I tried installing a fresh install of ML using an external USB drive and then booting fresh from that volume.

     

    Even on the brand new fresh install, I am still getting the same problem -- error messages in the Console whenever Dictation is activated / after Dictation attempts to process the recorded voice. On my iMac (early 2008) and on my brother's MBP 13 (late 2010), no issues at all, using the same Wifi network.

     

    Changing the DNS has not helped. Trashing the plist file has not either. It's either something to do with ML or should I ask for the hardware to be checked (not that I'm certain if that would help)?

  • by Auroraron,

    Auroraron Auroraron Aug 2, 2012 11:36 AM in response to loyking
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2012 11:36 AM in response to loyking

    Works one day,  does not the next.  Talked to so many people and they all report issues.   Never trust a new operating system until the first or second updates come out.   Reminds me of the microsoft days.

  • by SammyFro,

    SammyFro SammyFro Aug 2, 2012 11:56 AM in response to Hunaidi
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Aug 2, 2012 11:56 AM in response to Hunaidi

    I turned dictation of and on in system preferences. It did nothing. Then I turned it off. Then I rebooted. Then I turned dictation back on. So far, it's working now and quite well.

  • by mucoy,

    mucoy mucoy Aug 2, 2012 12:35 PM in response to Hunaidi
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2012 12:35 PM in response to Hunaidi

    I had the same problem as others where upon triggering dictation, a single tone would sound, but the microphone would never appear and no dictation would take place.

     

    I also ran 1password. Quitting 1password did not fix the glitch.

     

    What turned out to be the issue is having "Secure Keyboard Entry" enabled on my terminal emulator, iTerm. There are other apps that have this toggle (Apple's included Terminal.app being one). Upon disabling secure keyboard entry, dictation began to funciton properly.

     

    It's an unfortunate compromise as I'd prefer to leave SKE enabled (as it provides no other system app/listener the ability to 'see' what I type into my iTerm windows) and likely something Apple will need to address. In the meantime, I encourage those with the same symptoms as described above to disable SKE and give it a whirl.

     

    If you don't know of any apps on your system that have this functionality, you can launch Terminal and see if it's turned on via the menus. You may find it necessary to turn ON and then OFF, but this was definitely the culprit for me.

     

    Good luck!!

  • by loyking,

    loyking loyking Aug 2, 2012 4:30 PM in response to ml314hk
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 2, 2012 4:30 PM in response to ml314hk

    ml314hk: when is the make of your MBP? Call it a hunch, but I am now wondering our problem might be related to a particular batch of MBP that somehow is unable to generate its own set of authentication keys to talk to Apple's servers.

     

    So far, dictation has worked on

    1) iMac (early 2008)

    2) my brother's MBP 13 (2010)

     

    No luck on my MBP 15 (early 2011) despite being on the same network and after a clean install. Wondering if I should send my MBP in via AppleCare.

  • by Auroraron,

    Auroraron Auroraron Aug 2, 2012 6:06 PM in response to loyking
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2012 6:06 PM in response to loyking

    The problem is Apple, They will not tell customers about known issues and use us as beta testers.  You can work for hours on it and read what you like but never any answer on here direct from Apple.   Company got too big and their policy is to never say anything. Just have to wait for next update and hopes they address it.

  • by Dominik Reinmund,

    Dominik Reinmund Dominik Reinmund Aug 2, 2012 8:18 PM in response to Auroraron
    Level 2 (180 points)
    Aug 2, 2012 8:18 PM in response to Auroraron

    I think you are in the same camp as many here that have some app running in the background that has "Secure Inpout" enabled. See the post about 1Password.

     

    Once you find out what that app is, try if minimizing it helps.

     

     

    Ultimately, it seems like this is something both Apple and 3rd party app developer needs to look into.

  • by mmolson,

    mmolson mmolson Aug 2, 2012 10:36 PM in response to Hunaidi
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2012 10:36 PM in response to Hunaidi

    To add the the mix, but my issue is perhaps unique. dictation does not work in general showng the same pattern of "shaking 3 dots", but I am based in Dubai. When attempting to dictate to Text Edit, I get the following error: 

     

    <Error>: Daemon - Sending recognition failed Error Domain=kAFAssistantErrorDomain Code=4 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (kAFAssistantErrorDomain error 4.)" UserInfo=0x7fd482cb58c0 {NSUnderlyingError=0x7fd48503f630 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Operation timed out"}

     

    Solution

    When i VPN into Canada then follow the same steps (dictation into text edit) it works perfectly (and quickly). No other changes are made, only lighting up a VPN connection to allow me access to the internet through a gateway in Toronto. I have repeated this a number of times.

     

    "This is my message using dictation"

     

    To me this appears as a server-end issue that Apple needs to investigate!!

     

    m

  • by ml314hk,

    ml314hk ml314hk Aug 2, 2012 11:03 PM in response to loyking
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2012 11:03 PM in response to loyking

    Mine is MBP 15 (late 2011)

  • by FocusedOne,

    FocusedOne FocusedOne Aug 3, 2012 12:30 AM in response to Hunaidi
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 3, 2012 12:30 AM in response to Hunaidi

    Recently installed Mountain Lion across all systems, dictation worked perfectly all around.

     

    Then, after adding a new, external sound card, I must have changed my internal mic settings by accident because I was seeing the dictation mic, but it wasn't picking up my voice. 

     

    Under "Sound" preferences, I could see the mic was picking up my voice, but it wouldn't in dictation.  The fix was under "Dictation and Speech" preferences, where I needed to set the dropdown to internal mic.

     

    After reading most of this thread, I thought it also might have been a conflict/bug with a 3rd party app that I have installed, but that turned out not to be the case.

     

    4 checks:

     

    1.  System Preferences > Sound > ensure internal mic is set to built-in and input volume is at least 50%.

     

    Check to see that input volume is being recieved by talking and looking at the meter.

     

    2.  System Preferences > Dictation and Speech > make sure dictation is turned on and dropdown set to internal microphone.

     

    3.  Go > Utilities > Audio MIDI Setup > ensure "Built-in Microphone" has a black microphone icon next to it.  If no black mic icon, right-click "Built-in Microphone" and select "Use this device for sound input".  Format should be 44100.0 Hz and 2ch-24bit integer.

     

    4.  System Preference > Parental Controls > Other > ensure that "disable use of dictation" is not checked under the user that you are logging in as.

  • by noname2001,

    noname2001 noname2001 Aug 3, 2012 3:11 AM in response to FocusedOne
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 3, 2012 3:11 AM in response to FocusedOne

    YAY, The 1password hint finally helped me:

    I don't have 1password installed but something similar which obviously interferes with the dictation input method: LastPass! After quitting the browser dictation works again without rebooting! ++

    So far it seems to work even with LastPass running in the browser, if and only if I enter the password manually and not with the YubiKey.

  • by loyking,

    loyking loyking Aug 3, 2012 6:19 AM in response to mmolson
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 3, 2012 6:19 AM in response to mmolson

    @mmolson I can confirm that the VPN trick works.

     

    I am located in Singapore and connected my MBP to a free UK VPN service. Once connected, dictation worked flawlessly. Once I disconnect from the VPN service, dictation goes back to its pause-blinking dots-trembling dots sequence with no translation done, along with the console error message.

     

    As to why this happens on my MBP and not on my iMac despite the two being on the same network and router, I'm not sure. I am going to forward this information through AppleCare and hopefully we might get a permanent fix soon.

  • by aliimaad,

    aliimaad aliimaad Aug 3, 2012 12:56 PM in response to Hunaidi
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 3, 2012 12:56 PM in response to Hunaidi

    Problem Solved...

     

    Go to System Preferences-> Network-> (Wifi) Advance-> DNS and enter/add in DNS Servers 208.67.220.220 then restart

     

    Tadaaa....

     

    This solved three dots negative wiggling:)

     

    also do check input audio in sounds and under microphone in dictation prefs

  • by robdrums69,

    robdrums69 robdrums69 Aug 4, 2012 4:56 PM in response to Hunaidi
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 4, 2012 4:56 PM in response to Hunaidi

    Make sure you ALL have the setting set for input microphone - System Preferences - Sounds - Input tab - Internal Microphone -

    Mine wasn't selected as I have a DUET audio controller

    Should fix issue for those of us with other audio devices etc

     

    Thanks

    Rob

    Ontario Canada!

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