Can't stop iChat server/jabber

What does your system.log show?

I cannot interact with the GUI at all.

Can you not even access other services using the GUI or the main Server Admin screen where you see the server settings?

I would expect to see some evidence of the problem from the systems logs.
From the command line type *grep jabberd /var/log/system.log* and post back any thing that you get back. If you get a lot of data, post something that you feel looks like a problem.

If nothing comes back, issue this command *sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.jabber.jabberd.plist*

and then try the grep or better still look to see what turns up in the system.log (which you can see from the main screen on the Systems Admin Application)

post the output from the command *ls -l /etc/jabberd*

Have this problem too on a new install on new XServe.
All other colab services are working 100%

no lines of interest in syslog

*sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.jabber.jabberd.plist*
nothing found to load

*ls -l /etc/jabberd*
total 72
-rw------- 1 _jabber wheel 19309 Jul 26 04:59 c2s.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 19098 Jul 26 04:59 c2s.xml.dist
-rw------- 1 _jabber wheel 594 Jul 26 04:59 jabberd.cfg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 548 Jul 26 04:59 jabberd.cfg.dist
-rw------- 1 _jabber wheel 1351 Jul 26 04:59 muc-jcr.xml
-rw------- 1 _jabber wheel 3361 Jul 26 04:59 resolver.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 3304 Jul 26 04:59 resolver.xml.dist
-rw------- 1 _jabber wheel 1704 Jul 26 04:59 router-filter.apple.xml
-rw------- 1 _jabber wheel 1344 Jul 26 04:59 router-filter.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 1344 Jul 26 04:59 router-filter.xml.dist
-rw------- 1 _jabber wheel 241 Jul 26 04:59 router-users.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 258 Jul 26 04:59 router-users.xml.dist
-rw------- 1 _jabber wheel 8071 Jul 26 04:59 router.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 6488 Jul 26 04:59 router.xml.dist
-rw------- 1 _jabber wheel 8356 Jul 26 04:59 s2s.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 7312 Jul 26 04:59 s2s.xml.dist
-rw------- 1 _jabber wheel 29238 Jul 26 04:59 sm.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 27935 Jul 26 04:59 sm.xml.dist
drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 136 Jul 26 04:59 templates

um... and can you post the output of *cat /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.jabber.jabberd.plist*

also do you have the contents of the /etc/jabbard from 10.5 before you did the upgrade?

finally there should be a file /Library/Logs/Migration/jabbermigrator.log which is an audit trail of the migration process. Can you please post the content of that log.

Have this problem too on a new install on new XServe.

Sorry just picked up on this comment. Are you running push notification? If so, stop the service, then try and start iChat then start Push Notification.

If you're referring to me, it was a fresh install.
Well technically it was working, but I did a format and re-install from the Snow Leo disk to start from scratch again. This is when it stopped working, though the setup wizard crashed at some point near the end and I did the rest by hand using Server Admin. Maybe this is what caused it.

I fixed it semi-painlessly though.

From a terminal you can do,
*open /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Server\ Install\ Disc/System/Installation/Packages/*

I then re-installed ServerEssentials.pkg (and ServerAdminTools but probably not necessary). On a desktop client the server now showed up on the list of configurable servers. I did the remote setup steps again and everything came online, no reboot.
All my previous settings were still there, directory accounts, etc, but now iChat and Push services started.

Message was edited by: Joe Mattiello

* Note: Push wouldn't start either originally, but I thought it was known that Push doesn't work without iChat, or at least I read that in another thread. They seem to be linked somewhat.

OK - so are you all up and running now?

Push needs the jabber (ichat) services running to work, but push will start jabber services if they are not running. When it does so, technically iChat is running but not if there are no previous settings or settings added into the Server Admin then it runs with some defaults.

Yup all working now.
I'm not sure what exactly the problem was, but an easy enough solution.
A shot in the dark, I have a suspicion a file and/or folder wasn't created somewhere that was needed for the SQL db the server uses, but the setup wizard created it correctly.

OK - that is great news. just need to mark the discussed as solved so others can see how to fix it.

I have exact the same problem after updating our XServe from 10.5.8 to 10.6.1. All services work fine, but ichat can't be started. I tried the thing with reinstalling serverEssentials, but it didn't help.

Did you try the things I suggested?