How do I reinstall iChatAV 3.x 4.x or 5.x ?

How do I reinstall iChatAV 3.x 4.x or 5.x ?

This is for the Tiger/Leopard/Snow Leopard Upgrade/Install discs only. To reinstall iChatAV 2.x on Panther, see this FAQ.
The Original iChat 3 FAQ by Ryan M is Here

The Easy Way: Insert your Tiger/Leopard/Snow Leopard DVD into your drive. Once the DVD loads, open the "Optional Installs" folder and then the .mpkg of the same name. This will launch an Installer. Click through until you get the option of choosing what you'd like to install. (this is after the Licence Agreement part)

Open the "Applications" by using the tick box and triangle for the drop down menu in the panel of software to install, simply choose iChat (only) and let the installer do the work. See Pic


Next, scroll down to "Possible Problems" below.

The Hard Way: Download Pacifist. Insert the Tiger (or Leopard) install DVD into the drive and open Pacifist. Click the "Open Apple Install Packages" button on Pacifist. This will load the DVD. It can take several second/minutes.

Once the DVD has loaded, there is a list of the contents from the DVD. Navigate to: Contents of OSInstall.mpkg/Contents of EssentialSystemSoftware/Contents of iChat.pkg/Applications/iChat.app. This is where iChat.app is located and what will need to be extracted/installed to your computer.
This place can be seen at the point 3 arrow in the example pic below.
Alternatively, you may perform a search on the directory listing with "iChat."

Once the iChat application is found, highlight/select it and extract it to the computer by clicking "Extract to" or "Install". Be sure to install iChatAV to the /Applications/ folder on your hard drive (not your User folder).

Now Repair Permissions after the reinstallation just to prevent any quirky behaviour by using Disk Utility located in /Applications/Utilities/. Then you should be nearly all set to use iChatAV 3.0 (or iChat 4.0 or iChat 5.x)

Note:
You need to Update the App by Running the COMBO update for the OS level you are at.
See lower down this Users Tip

Be sure to update to the latest version, as noted below. (iChat from an Install disk is likely to be Out of Step with the OS. In Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard so far, the updates to iChat have been in the Software Updates and you need to match them.

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Possible Problems:
iChat is made up of the Application and some Support Folders that are Installed with the OS System folders. These may need to be reinstalled as well.
So if after an iChat.app Reinstall problems still persist, you might find it worthwhile to reinstall the following folders and their contents, using Pacifist, in these places on your Hard Drive:-

InstantMessage.framework folder (/System/Library/Framworks) and
VideoConference.framework folder (/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks).
For iChat 5 you will also need IMCore.framework (/System/Library/Frameworks)

With Pacifist the Paths are:-

Contents of OSInstall.mpkg/Contents of EssentialSystemSoftware/Contents of EssentialSystemSoftwareGroup/Contents of Essentials.pkg/System/Library/Frameworks/InstantMessage.framework as per Arrow 6 on the pic below

with
Contents of OSInstall.mpkg/Contents of EssentialSystemSoftware/Contents of EssentialSystemSoftwareGroup/Contents of Essentials.pkg/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/VideoConference.framework which is below Arrow 6

And
Contents of OSInstall.mpkg/Contents of EssentialSystemSoftware/Contents of EssentialSystemSoftwareGroup/Contents of Essentials.pkg/System/Library/Frameworks/ IMCore.framework (Back to Arrow 6 again)

Example pic. You will notice when you get to "Contents of Essentials.pkg" at Arrow 3,things match the Paths to the Hard Dive/System/Library/... as described in the first box.


You can reinstall either/both/all of these folders by modelling the steps in "The Hard Way" noted above, except just reinstall the folders and not the iChat.app application. You will need Pacifist for this procedure.

Note:Updating to match the OS
To Upgrade after completing the re-installation of iChatAV, download the latest version Combo Update for your Level of the OS. I have Linked to the List on the Download pages in an attempt for future proofing.

With thanks to Ryan M for the Original works.



8:52 PM Saturday; December 19, 2009

This is the 4th version of this tip. It was submitted on Dec 19, 2009 by Ralph Johns (UK).