iMessage Freezes / is unusable on MacOS High Sierra

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Level 1

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iMessage Freezes / is unusable on MacOS High Sierra

All of a sudden about 2 days ago my iMessage stopped working on my MacBook Pro. THe system is a late 2011 MBP running High Sierra 10.13.6. The computer suffered the graphics card failure about 9 months ago, I had it repaired and its been running great. A few days agom there were a few times when the system "freaked out" (mouse jumping randomly, graphics not quite right). Then after a reboot iMessage no longer works, however every other app on the system seems to be working fine.

I can launch iMessage and it looks normal, I can also scroll through the messages in the left column. However if I try to open a conversation, preferences, etc the app just freezes and will stay that way indefinitely. also, if I click on the iMessage icon with another window open (browser, mail, etc) it will not bring iMessage to the front. Nothing changed, settings are the same (as far as I can tell), but it just stopped working.

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.13

Posted on May 31, 2019 5:09 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

BDAqua

Level 10

245,615 points

Jun 1, 2019 11:48 AM in response to Lightngsvt

To find out if it's system wide or user specific, try this...

Open System Preferences>Users & Groups, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

Does it work in the new account?

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Answer 2

Lightngsvt Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 1, 2019 4:32 AM in response to BDAqua

I dont have a TM backup because I have a 1TB drive in my MBP, and my external is also 1TB, but has other data on it. I ran the OS reinstall last night. Heres the weird part, iMessage still has the same issue! Its the only app I've found with any issues with!

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Answer 3

Lightngsvt Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 1, 2019 7:14 AM in response to Lexiepex

I may be using incorrect terminology, it is Messages.app. Regardless, it still doesnt work, I can't upgrade to Mojave due to the age of my MBP. Its probably time to upgrade to a new MBP, but the old beast has been running good for me for so many years now, hate to let it go.

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Answer 4

Lightngsvt Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 1, 2019 12:34 PM in response to Lightngsvt

I went under Macintosh HD -> Users -> my Profile -> Library and deleted the Messages folder. I then reopened the Messages app and it is working now! Thank you for your help in solving this issue BDAqua!

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

245,615 points

May 31, 2019 5:52 PM in response to Lightngsvt

Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), does the problem occur in Safe Mode?

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Answer 6

Lightngsvt Author

Level 1

8 points

May 31, 2019 9:03 PM in response to BDAqua

Same thing in Safe Mode.

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

245,615 points

May 31, 2019 9:15 PM in response to Lightngsvt

Well, 2 options...

Restore from a Time Machine Backup.

Reinstall the OS you have now.

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Answer 8

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Jun 1, 2019 7:00 AM in response to Lightngsvt

In my HS and Mojave installation it says Messages not iMessage.

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Answer 9

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Jun 1, 2019 7:18 AM in response to Lightngsvt

There is nothing wrong with HighSierra.

BDAqua suggests to reinstall the OS: do that from the Recovery Partition.

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Answer 10

Lightngsvt Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 1, 2019 8:03 AM in response to Lexiepex

As mentioned earlier, I ran the OS reinstall form the recovery partition last night. Unfortunately it did not fix the problem.

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Answer 11

Lightngsvt Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 1, 2019 12:21 PM in response to BDAqua

You nailed it, it's user profile based. It works under a new account. If this was windows I would've that to try that. Is there a way to blow out settings/cache from Messages for my user profile?

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Answer 12

BDAqua

Level 10

245,615 points

Jun 1, 2019 12:41 PM in response to Lightngsvt

Whew, great news, great work on your part too! :)

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iMessage Freezes / is unusable on MacOS High Sierra

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