acrein

Q: Problem connecting on video chat AIM account/Messages

I've recently upgraded to a new iMac (27" Retina, 3.5ghz i5). I'm running Yosemite 10.10.3.

 

After years of successful and problem-free video chatting with family using an AIM account with Messages (and iChat before that), I'm suddenly having connection issues.

 

Curiously, I'm able to connect on my first attempt of the day. The video and audio work wonderfully, the chat can go on as long as desired, etc.

 

With every subsequent attempt to connect, the video chat will *not* connect.

 

I've deleted and re-added my aim account multiple times. Clearly my router is allowing the video chatting since a) I never had a problem in 8+ years previously with several different macs and b) I am even able to connect on this Mac, albeit intermittently.

 

I would welcome any advice.

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jun 19, 2015 3:16 PM

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Q: Problem connecting on video chat AIM account/Messages

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  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Jul 19, 2015 12:09 PM in response to Linda Cameron
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Jul 19, 2015 12:09 PM in response to Linda Cameron

    Hi,

     

    That is good to hear.

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:09 pm      Sunday; July 19, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Jul 19, 2015 12:23 PM in response to David Dellinger
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Jul 19, 2015 12:23 PM in response to David Dellinger

    Hi David,

     

    In Yosemite the System Preferences > Internet accounts insisted is adding the @AOL.com part to the Screen Name I use for AIM.

    This of course transfers across to the Messages app for the AIM Login if you are using a Screen Name registered with AIM.

     

    If you have this type of account with this issue edit the account in Messages so it does not have the @aol.com bit.

    If required disable the account and then remove it is both Messages and System Preferences.

    Then Re-add it under Other in the add process in Messages (it seems this may be more tolerant of the naming choices you make).

    Screen Shot 2015-07-19 at 20.13.45.png

     

    Messages is built on iChat.

    Since iChat 2.1 it has had Video and Audio Chat abilities.

    At iChat 3 Jabber was added which includes GoogleTalk (and more recently Facebook Chat IDs)

    iChat 4 adds Screen Sharing.

     

    All this are activated in the Video menu of iChat and/or Messages.

    Messages can still use this method in Yosemite.

     

    It is started by clicking the green icon in a Buddy List for A/V chats.

    highlighting a buddy and using the Screen Sharing icon tends to be the way that can be started, although all can be highlighted in the Buddy List then the Buddies Menu used.

     

    Messages in Yosemite can use the iMessages to Screen Share.

    Converse with a Contact.

    A Mac to Mac Screen Share can be then started from the Details option top right.

    (Using this in a Buddy List connection tries to invoke the iMessages method of doing thing and does not work. As there is no Buddy List for the iMessages account the reverse is not a problem)

     

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:22 pm      Sunday; July 19, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by Rick7777777,

    Rick7777777 Rick7777777 Jul 19, 2015 2:18 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 19, 2015 2:18 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Thanks Ralph, still not working. Set up two goole talk accounts.....would not work either.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Jul 20, 2015 11:29 AM in response to Rick7777777
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Jul 20, 2015 11:29 AM in response to Rick7777777

    Hi,

     

    I did have other Jabber accounts but there is a tendency fro them  to fall silent.

    I have lost two IDs to non working servers.

     

    I have not created another Google ID.

    I have tried to create another Jabber account using Psi. However I cannot get my Google account to show it is getting the Authorisation Requests.

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    7:29 pm      Monday; July 20, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by David Dellinger,

    David Dellinger David Dellinger Jul 22, 2015 11:51 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 2 (165 points)
    Jul 22, 2015 11:51 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Ralph Johns,

     

    Thanks for your long reply.  I know how to use Messages.  It just does not work anymore.  My AOL screenname doesn't end in @aol.com - I have always just used my @mac.com email address when I signed up for AIM back oh so long ago.  I just tried chatting with my brother who lives 40 miles away.  We tried Messages with only AIM and then only Google Talk.  Neither worked.  We kept getting Communication Error.  Restarts.  Frustration.

     

    We then tried Skype version 7.9.  I have had Skype for several years, but have rarely used it.  It worked without a hitch.  We video chatted for over an hour.  At first we did screen sharing of each others screen.  Skype also lets you share any particular window, so we tried that.  I should note that as far as we could tell, Skype only lets you view the other person's screen or a window.  It does not let you take control of the other screen or window.  (Someone please tell me how, if it is possible).  Soon, we were talking about all sorts of things, forgetting that we were trying out this "new" tool.  That's what video chatting should be - to communicate, not to restart, search through console logs, etc.

     

    Overall, the Skype interface leaves a lot to be desired, or maybe I just am not yet used to it, but Skype worked without a hitch - apart from view only, I don't see anything that I am missing from Messages, apart from the errors and heartache.  Not everyone wants to use FaceTime on their phone.  My wife and her Mom don't own iOS devices.

     

    Does Apple know how important video chatting is to it's Mac user base?  I don't think so.

     

    Now I'll be using my "Jump Desktop" app to login and install Skype on my Mother-in-law's computer in Denmark, so my wife can video chat with her from here in the US.

     

    David

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Jul 23, 2015 12:32 PM in response to David Dellinger
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Jul 23, 2015 12:32 PM in response to David Dellinger

    Hi,

     

    Understood.

     

    There are now many posts reporting this issue across Mavericks and Yosemite (both the last two Updates as well).

     

    This would point to it not being the app itself.

    However as it also effect AIM as well as Jabber (Google)  the issue must lie somewhere else.

    This is likely to be an internet related issue.  (we may not be able to solve it here)

     

    Seems like you have a plan to cover things in the mean time.

     

    Use http://www.apple.com/feedback/ichat.html.  This have never been updated name-wise since Messages came out but if you start at the Apple Feedback page it is where the Messages option links you to.

    Some of the drop downs about Versions and such are also woefully behind.

    Type all the info in the free text area about the OS X version and the Messages Version (despite many changes Apple call the version in Mavericks Version 8 and the same again in Yosemite with no sub numbers to denote App Updates within those OS versions).

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:32 p.m.      Thursday; July 23, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by Rick7777777,

    Rick7777777 Rick7777777 Jul 24, 2015 6:56 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 24, 2015 6:56 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    We have been working with apple level 2's and in turn they  has been working with her engineers for over 2 months now on this issue, We work with apple every week  for hours trying to understand this issue, Here is the approximate sequence of events related to messages.

     

    About my setup

    I have 4 retail locations all using iMacs, plus personal macs, my managers also have macs. (So - many macs / users involved) WE have used messages and before that ichat since the software was created. We use the video conferencing, audio conferencing, remote login and texting for communication countless times through a day, We also use message to drop send files back and forth many times a day. We are all set up with aim/aol accounts.

    We are in Ontario, Canada. All computers are using Bell for the internet provider.

     

    Approximate  sequence of events

    1. January 15 using mavericks we lost the ability to remote log in to computers. Most systems upgraded to Yosemite. Remote login is restored.

     

    2. Feb, March - we could no longer send files that contained pictures between any of the at lest 10 systems. ( So Excel files could be sent and received , but screen shots, jpg files etc would indicate that it was sent but no one could receive.)  (Still cannot receive any file with pics-  tried many formats)

     

    3. March - Began working with Apple to resolve the receiving of files containing pics in messages.

     

    4. March - April time frame video conferencing becomes extremely unreliable, 50 % of the time we are experience connection issues. Work with internet company for many hours trying to understand why. At this point we feel it is networking.

     

    5. May -  we loose remote log in capability, still working with networking company and apple to understand issues. Video conferencing still working about 50% of the time.....Symptoms - will ring at other end but will not establish connection

     

    6. Early July messages stops working completely except for basic  texting. We set up using jabber accounts thinnking it may be an aol account issue, No success, We use older os versions  mavericks to early 10 yosemite thinking it was the apple 10.4.4 update.... will not work.

     

    7. We partitioned drives, so we have clean drives to rule out software compatibility issues. Clean drives running only messages will not work.

     

    8. Try several configurations with apple for hours this week - still no luck.

     

    Still working with apple, at this time no one seems to be able to resolve.  We are  using FaceTime for now, however don't like it, team viewer for remote log in, messages still for text, and email for pictures. We need it all back in one reliable software.

     

    Side Note

    Was told by apple that they have discontinued the multi video conferencing recently in messages..  This is terrible - we used the multi video with 4 chats at once, daily for meetings.

    WHEN we get messages back to normal, we need apple  developers to restore the multi video conferencing back, I was told by level 2's that they would restore if there is enough feedback requesting it.

     

    Will post any new results, we are scheduled to work with apple next week.

     

    Anybody, ideas ???

  • by ccsmatt,

    ccsmatt ccsmatt Jul 24, 2015 8:39 AM in response to Rick7777777
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Applications
    Jul 24, 2015 8:39 AM in response to Rick7777777

    This is very similar to what my company has experienced.

     

    1. February - Screen Sharing became intermittent, successful connection about 25% of the time.

    2. March - Screen Sharing completely stopped working.

    3. March/April - Video chat becomes very intermittent, like you said about 50% of the time, doing a NVRAM/PRAM reset usually allowed connection.

    4. June - we would go random days where video chat wouldn't work at all and then suddenly work the next day.

    5 - July - Video/Audio conferencing completely stopped.

     

    I too have completely reloaded my Jabber server, using both the Apple Messages Server and Openfire, I have worked with my Firewall vendor on 3 separate occasions all 3 technicians noted the firewall was configured and working properly. I have worked with my ISP on 3 separate times including verifying IPV6 isn't enabled.

     

    Currently I am a loss as what to do next.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Jul 24, 2015 12:09 PM in response to Rick7777777
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Jul 24, 2015 12:09 PM in response to Rick7777777

    Hi,

     

    Re 2.

    This seems to be an AIM issue as they have added a server it seems to filter Pics in line in chats.

    Sending a Pic in a folder causes it to automatically to be zipped but the file (pic) does then arrive.

    See this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_%28computer_worm%29

    It is the only time Macs have been "Infected" outside of a Lab.  However the process starts by opening an corrupted jpeg.  It would seem AIM may be protecting the service against this sort of attack.

     

    Zip files of place them in folders to send.

     

    As to the rest it seems LAN connections work even if using AIM which still sends the info via the internet.

    Seems to effect iChat and Messages.  It certainly seems to effect Mavericks and Yosemite - which have the numbering issue so we can't tell if the app is updated or not as both are called Version 8 and have no subsets.

    I am sure Mavericks' version had at least three updates.

     

    This is similar to the issue at the launch of iChat 3.

    The testing groups is relatively small.  The people testing iChat  and now Messages is a  smaller group from that  (No-one is testing add-ons for Messages so count developers out).

    At the time no-one had spotted the issue.  On General release it became apparent that the Internet backbone east of the Mississippi, north to about Chicago were not capable of using the protocols that Apple wanted to use fro Video chats.

    After the Host at the time collected data  and logs from regular posters it turned out Apple had chosen to use a protocol that had been agreed internationally 7 years before but this part of the Backbone in the stated had not been sorted and the people involved claimed they did not know which servers still needed updating.

    The outcome was that Apple released a Standalone Update (iChat 3.0.1)  which is the only one since iChat went A/V at version 2.1).

     

    It could be a simple as some ISP or Backbone company is doing fairly major upgrades and routing incoming and outgoing data though different servers.

    I have heard of a "patch" like this being used whilst a cable was replaced in a street in New York.  (A son visited his mother and did data packets tests to find this out).  It meant for part for router the end user appeared to have two IPs (really not liked by iChat back then).

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:09 p.m.      Friday; July 24, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by Captain 3D,

    Captain 3D Captain 3D Jul 25, 2015 5:49 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (105 points)
    Jul 25, 2015 5:49 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Another one here having the same issues.

     

    10.6.8 and ichat 5.03 on both ends going from CA, USA to Scotland UK. tried swapping port to 443. Tried deleting all ichat plists. Tried changing the UK location from a BTinternet provider to Virgin. All failed at the 'Starting video...' stage. This problem started about two weeks back after being used successfully for years.

     

    I can connect to another machine on my local wifi network.

     

    phil

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Jul 25, 2015 12:02 PM in response to Captain 3D
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Jul 25, 2015 12:02 PM in response to Captain 3D

    Hi,

     

    I have Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro as it is one of the first and will not run Mountain Lion for iChat 6 (and/or Messages beyond that, that require Core Duo 2 and above processors).

     

    This is the first post I have seen that says it effects iChat if it is in use at both ends (most other posts seem to have Yosemite at least at one end).

     

    Your post tends to confirm it is something on the internet in general that has changed and not the "latest" version of the app. (Apple have ceased numbering Messages properly in Mavericks calling it Version 8 throughout and also calling Yosemite's version the same despite major changes such as no set formatting and no individual IM formatting either as a start.).

     

    AS to what has changed and pinning it down to a specific action that we can workaround is elusive at the moment.

     

     

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:02 p.m.      Saturday; July 25, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by Dtinen,

    Dtinen Dtinen Jul 28, 2015 10:59 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Jul 28, 2015 10:59 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Ditto for sticking with Snow Leopard on my MBP running iChat.  Also same problem with a newer MBP running 10.8.5 and Messages 7.0.1, trying video/share chat with an older plastic Macbook. 

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Jul 28, 2015 12:14 PM in response to acrein
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Jul 28, 2015 12:14 PM in response to acrein

    Hi All,

     

    Please use http://www.apple.com/feedback/ichat.html

    It is the correct page for Messages as well as iChat.

    It was never updated that well during iChat  so put all the details fro the lower Drop Downs in the free text area.

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:14 p.m.      Tuesday; July 28, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by Dtinen,

    Dtinen Dtinen Jul 29, 2015 7:10 AM in response to Dtinen
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Jul 29, 2015 7:10 AM in response to Dtinen

    P.S.  I was trying to screen share with a Macbook running 10.7.5 and iChat 6.0.2.

     

    I entered my problem report as you suggested.  Thanks.

  • by Dtinen,

    Dtinen Dtinen Jul 29, 2015 10:36 AM in response to Dtinen
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Jul 29, 2015 10:36 AM in response to Dtinen

    Today screen sharing using Messages and iChat functioned normally for some reason, using Google Talk (Jabber). IpV6 was off, duplicate internet connections were off, but no software or account parameters were changed from yesterday, when the screen share "ring" would be answered but it only resulted in an error message "no communication...".   

     

    The only changes from yesterday were that we both renewed our DHCP leases* before starting Messages; but I doubt that was the fix. 

     

    The client's Display options had changed (he added a second monitor in mirror mode, but not set to the same resolution as his main monitor), and that caused an issue once the screen share had started:  on my screen, the top inch was scrambled, and the mouse I was controlling was off by that inch.  In other words, I wasn't clicking where I thought I was clicking on the remote screen.  Changing his Display settings so the resolutions matched, and then quitting and restarting Messages/iChat, cured that problem.  It is possible that this monitor issue screwed things up yesterday in some way that it partially tolerated today. 

     

    We had a major, unusual crash in the middle of the session where I was disconnected from Google while remotely using Google Docs.  But that was the only anomaly today.  I'll take that, over not being able to use the function at all.

     

    *System Preferences/Network/Advanced.../TCP-IP, click "renew lease" button

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