My ichat won't let me video chat!

HI,

You may have missed this post

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3685639?answerId=17418431022#17418431022

9:06 PM Saturday; January 28, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Hi,

I posted this earlier.

IF this is Lion then make sure the Finder is the current "front" app and use it's Go Menu

In here hold down the ALT key and then select the Library item from the menu.

Once the Library is open then navigate to the Preferences Folder and find com.apple.ichat.plist

Drag this and the .lockfile of the same name to the Trash.

Restart iChat.

You need to get to the Home folder()/Library/Preferences folder to find that .plist

If you are running Lion (OS 10.7.x) then you cannot see the Library when you open that Little House icon in the Users Folder (or it's grey version in the Finder's Side Bar)

You will need to have the Finder listed in the Menu Bar as the "front" or current app

Then you use the GO Menu

When in here you need to hold the ALT key down as this shows you the Library.

Once the Library is the window on the Desktop you can navigate to the Preferences folder and find the .plist.

You then drag the .plist (And the .lockfile with the same name) to the Trash

If you then restart iChat it will recreate the .plist refreshing everything that.plist looks after.

(You can empty the Trash later).

11:09 PM Saturday; January 28, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Hi

An internet connection is a bit like getting cable TV (or Satellite) where there are loads of channels.

On a computer, the router and the Server end these tend to be referred to as Ports.

There are 65535 ports in all (65535 channels if you like).

Web Browsing and the Mail App use ports belo port 1024

This is significant as below this port most domsetic routing devices have the ports open (and they work Out-of-the-Box).

Some apps and Games use ports above this threshold.

iChat is one of those apps (more so in vers 5 and lower).

For instance iChat sends and receives the visible Invite for Audio or Video Chat on port 5678

Now iChat tries to presume that you will accept and starts up the Camera (Green Light) and pops up the Video or Audio Chat Invite.

You are getting the camera Start up but not the window.

My first thought is this is a windowing issue with iChat - hence deleting the .plist.

It may well be the Internet but I would not have thought the camera would have started without the Invite showing. (you are obviously receiving the data that says there will be an invite as the camera lights up - the issue would seem to be with iChat from there)

As you can't "See" the invite on the Desktop or in any menu (Window Menu or the DOCK icon if clicked and held) then it would see we need to look at iChat first.

Deleting the .plist is the simplest step to take.

Notes.

If it is the Internet it could be that the pots iChat needs are not open in the routing device.

If it were simply this the camera would not start up

It could be that your routing device has some feature that stops iChat working properly.

These would be DoS (Denial Of Service) Protection, SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection), both of which cut the Video port rather than the invite port (so later in the Process and possibly Ping Blocking. Ping Blocking also effects ther connection Process much later when the connection Process has moved to the Video/Audio port.

If Apple have solved this I will let you work with them.

Ralph Johns (UK) wrote:

Hi,

This sort of thing does normally sort itself out in a few days.

Everything working fine again for me now, no changes to machines either end, so presumably was an AIM server issue for me.

Hi Andy,

Thanks for letting us know.

9:32 PM Wednesday; February 1, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Hi,

I know this is a while after this forum was in use, but I am having the same exact problem right now. If you still remember, what steps did you take to solve this issue?

Thanks,

Calleigh

Hi,

There can be several reasons why this stops working.

The most common is the app "reading" the Internet Speed as the app starts at a time when the Comouter is busy on the internet leaving too small a speed for Video chats.

The most common time for this to happen is starting iChat when the computer starts up.

7:32 pm Thursday; September 19, 2013

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.4)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

I dont know if you are still having this problem but I just had it and fixed it. All you have to do is open ichat and go into Messages< Prefrences< Accounts. Delete your ichat accound under AOl and click the plus button to add another account. From here select other messages account and add your ichat through that.

On the basis the Original Post was two years ago I think it is likely that they have moved on.

8:30 pm Tuesday; January 7, 2014

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad