Facetime Server Encountered Error

I fear that terencefromguidonia montecelio forgot to mention the author of the solution, Macarion:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3205932

Clean hosts file didn't work for me. What exactly are people clearing out of there that give success? Only entries related to Facetime certs and reg should really do anything I'd think...

Your hosts file

/etc/hosts

or

/private/etc/hosts

(both of which are the same file - the 2nd being a symbolic link to the 1st)

should contain ONLY this, and then facetime will connect.

##

# Host Database

#

# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface

# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.

##

127.0.0.1 localhost

255.255.255.255 broadcasthost

::1 localhost

fe80::1%lo0 localhost

This is a bit annoying, since I have a number of IP addresses assigned to loopback, so I'm going to run through them all adding them one by one to see whether the Facetime activation remains intact.

The hosts file is a very important part of the system network management, and it's a bit extreme to expect it to remain unused, just so that facetime is able to operate..

I'll post the results shortly..

Ok final solution :

Your hosts file

/etc/hosts

or

/private/etc/hosts

(both of which are the same file - the 2nd being a symbolic link to the 1st)

should contain ONLY this, and then facetime will activate and connect.

##

# Host Database

#

# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface

# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.

##

127.0.0.1 localhost

255.255.255.255 broadcasthost

::1 localhost

fe80::1%lo0 localhost

If your /etc/hosts file contains ANYTHING ELSE, then make a copy of it, and save it on the Desktop.

Now remove ALL extra entries from /etc/hosts so that it contains only the lines listed above and save.

If you want to flush the DNS cache, open terminal and run the following command:

dscacheutil -flushcache

Restart, if you want to make double sure that all changes have been applied.

Open facetime, and supply your Apple ID and password.

Facetime will activate and connect.

Now you can swap back to your old /etc/hosts file which you saved on the desktop.

Tim x

After three days trying to find a fix galalive solution worked on my system. Thanks🙂

I figured it out.. I only deleted the lines 127.0.0.1 crl.verisign.net (or .com can't remember) and CRL.VERISIGN.NET

worked like a charm.

I had the same problem; Solved it as follows:

Flush the DNS cache - open terminal and run the following command:

dscacheutil -flushcache

Restart.

Worked for me... leve me feedback.

Thanks

Miguel

Worked for me with a slight varaition, in my /etc folder there were two host files, one just called Host (that contained several 127.0.0.1 something, something lines) and one called host~original (this contained only the needed lines). I then renamed the host file "junk" and renamed the host~orginal file "host". Then tried Facetime and it worked. I went back in and renamed the files back to their original name, restarted the computer, tried Facetime and it worked.

Thanks all and thanks gaialive.

Glad to help 🙂

a little bit of extra info..

If you're using Text Edit :

the simple solution is to copy the hosts file and paste it to your desktop.

(It's a good idea to Duplicate it again so you have a master copy.)

Edit it.

Then paste this newly edited version back into your /etc folder

The Finder will ask you to Authenticate. Just click "Authenticate" and enter your login/admin password.

Tim x

ps. AFTER you have edited the hosts file and got Facetime working

YOU CAN REPLACE your original hosts file.

This may be important as you may have different IP addresses set to loopback,

either to stop certain urls from being contacted,

to stop apps from connecting without your knowledge, or for blacklisting certain IPs.

Tim. That has worked for me. Well done. Thank you. Colin

My hosts file is ok but does not work FaceTime. I also tried to create a password in the keychain that indicated in this treadhttps://discussions.apple.com/thread/3205932 # 15720055 but itdoes not work. There are other novelties? thanks

This solution absolutely works.

And the gentleman below who identified the verisign entries as the problematic ones is also correct.

Thanks, all. I spent a half hour on the phone with apple support and they could provide no solution. FaceTime is currently working again for me.

Jason

Thank for the info...... it work. many ppl dun understand how it work as me it take about a few hour to figure it out..... thank again

I am not able to use my facetime since the upgrade July 7.

Have tried deleting certificates and changing the hosts file, still not working.... 😟