iChat login

You think the 614 is like the 824 but V9 is Ok ?

Understood.



4:31 PM Saturday; December 6, 2008

The 824 is a MIMO.

The 614v9 works fine with iChat.

Yes. It was on before iChat stopped working -- while all other IM programs work fine -- and it's on now.

Internet Sharing is off, and has been off -- both before iChat stopped working, and now.

The Parellels adapters are off, and have been off -- both before iChat stopped working, and now.

Really, none of these other things can be factors in this, when every other IM program I run works fine. iChat, and ONLY iChat, refuses to work right.

I have no idea what "those that have difficulties" are. What does this mean? What "difficulties" you're referring to? How would I even begin to know?

The router is NOT interfering with IM traffic since I can run multiple IM programs, connecting to AIM, on different platforms and different machines even, through the same router.

The problem here is iChat and ONLY iChat.

Most computers can be set up to run multiple networks.

The most simple is to use an Airport card to connect to one network and Ethernet to another.

What can be a problem for iChat is when the second network also has a connection to the Internet.

Say you have your computer Ethernetted to your Modem for your Internet Connection. Then in another computer you set Internet Sharing from it's Ethernet over it's Airport card to the first computer by it's Ethernet card.

If we say the first modem gives your computer an IP of 192.168.1.1 and the second computer gives you one of 169.245.1.2 - your computer is sitting in two LANs - one the the modem and one to the other computer. As that computer is also connected to the Internet your computer has two access points to the Internet.

For a lot of apps this is no problem as it will tend to ignore one of them (it does not give you twice the Speed to the Internet).

iChat is different in that it, when in Video or Audio Only or Screen Sharing has to be able to tell you where it is in relation to the Internet in a very Linear way - as in Modem <-> any router <-> Computer and not
Modem1     modem 2
    \           /
Computer <-> Computer

The same issue occurs if you are Ethernet and Airport to your own Router or Modem as you will get two different IPs that way.

MIMO devices complicate the issue further in that they effectively split the WiFi band in to narrower portions allowing the computer to somewhat subdivide it's In and Out data. iChat "Sees" this as Multiple Internet Connections.

You could look at it like living in a Block of Flats/Apartments where the postal address is 35, Any Street when it needs to be Inner Dwelling 5, 35, Any Street
MIMO is then like iChat is trying to say "I am in rooms 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 at inner Dwelling 5, 35, Any Street" which it knows it can not be.

This is a very simplified view but is essentially what is happening.

The upshot is that iChat has issues working with MIMO devices (And any other sort of dual hook to the Internet).
MIMO can rarely be turned Off and the software processes in the device that does it also bleeds over into the Ethernet connection.

I hope this helps.



11:51 AM Sunday; December 7, 2008

All of this may be true, but it does not explain why iChat used to work on the same machine and the same network setup just two -- make that three, now -- weeks ago. If MIMO is the problem, then iChat should never have worked at all.

Also, after having done a lot of searches on the matter, I cannot confirm that my 624 router has MIMO at all. The 824 does, but this does not mean the 624 does.

I'm looking for a way to get a program that used to work, to work again. I guess this is an impossibility ... although I have no idea why it should be.

Ok,

As the Shutting down/Restarting with no Internet partially worked combine that with deleting com.apple.iChat.AIM.plist

Delete this when iChat is Closed and do not open iChat again until there is no Internet Connection.



3:16 PM Sunday; December 7, 2008

when I set my port to 443, I stopped having the problem.

hey. i just tried changing the number and it worked for me.
just wanted to say thanks.

to everyone, make sure you're logged out before you do this or it won't work! =]

I shut off my airport, opened iChat, changed the login port to 443, and shut down iChat. Then, started the Airport again, and launched iChat - everything seems to work after that.

This issue happened after I installed a NetGear WGR614v7 wireless router.

Probably something to do with it, but iChat just gets wonked out.

The 614 needs iChat on 443.

Im now having the same problem. IChat has worked fine for a while. Now all of sudden every time i try to log in i get a message that says either "general error" or "error: startup failure".

Can anyone help me?

If you mean iChat does not start up at all I would start a new thread.



8:23 PM Friday; January 9, 2009

I just wanted to confirm that I have been having this problem for about a year and it is because of the netgear wgt624 router. On my iMac and netgear router on both comcast and AT&T, iChat will log on and off repeatedly and then throw the error that I have attempted to login to AIM too many times.
I can get it to work again by checking "Disable SPI Firewall" in the router settings. However then my VPN doesn't work, so I have to leave it on. 😟
I brought my iMac to a different house recently with a different router and ichat worked fine.