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Helpful answers
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Feb 2, 2013 5:55 PM in response to i_JJby MacMannn,Can someone please help me?! I cannot get into messages on my Macbook Pro.
I've tried the Pram reset. I've tried deleting the com.apple.imagent.plist file AND the com.apple.facetime.plist file. I've tried going into another user account and signing in to messages and i just keep getting the same message, "Could not sign in imessage The server encountered an error processing registration. Please try again later.”
I've tried everything in this forum and nothing has worked and it is really frustrating me now.
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Feb 3, 2013 11:12 AM in response to MacMannnby Ralph Johns (UK),Hi,
If the issues appears across several Mac User Accounts then it is either being caused by a network issue or the Mac's Serial Number is missing.
You can either look in System Info (Hold the ALT key whilst accessing the Apple Icon Menu) or using the About this Mac option in the Apple Icon menu then clicking the line that tell you the Current OS version twice (one click shows the Build Number and the second click shows the Serial Number)

7:11 PM Sunday; February 3, 2013
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat" iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
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 -
Feb 3, 2013 11:17 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)by MacMannn,I can log in with my iphone to imessages but this problem is only on my Macbook pro. I did what you said and the serial number is showing up. I'm so lost it's frustrating. I usually solve problems like this all the time but i don't know what's going on right now. Could you walk through with me what all I could do now? I will try anything. Even if i've already tried it, i just want to start from step 1 and do everything possible and then tell you what happens.
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Feb 4, 2013 2:01 PM in response to MacMannnby Ralph Johns (UK),Hi,
IN the early part of OS X 10.8 there seemed to be lots of possibles on why the iMessages Account was not registering. (More recently that message has seemed to apply to a missing serial number only)
Here are some of the things that have worked for some people, some of the time:-
1) Open the Activity Monitor (Applications/Utilities) and find the imagent item and use the Quit Button and then Force Quit.
Restart the computer as IMAgent starts when the computer does.
2) Add a Public DNS server (Or two) to System Preferences > Network > Advanced Button > DNS tab
Google run 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
3) Check the Hosts file.
IN the Finder > Go Menu > Go to Folder type in /etc/hosts in the dialogue box that appears.
In it's basic form it will read:
##
# 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
The # character can be put in front of a line to Comment it out.
If Versign appears in here it may be blocking the return info for creating the Auth-Token in the keychain.
Comment out any such line.
4) Deleting the com.apple.imessage.bag.plist and the com.apple.imservice.iMessage.plist
Use the Finder method above go to the ~/Library/Preferences, find the two items and drag to the Trash.
restart Messages.

10:01 PM Monday; February 4, 2013
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat" iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
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 -
Feb 9, 2013 1:09 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)by Massi182,Can confirm #3 worked for my Macbook Pro mid 2010 on ML 10.8.2
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Feb 9, 2013 12:18 PM in response to Massi182by Ralph Johns (UK),Thanks for letting us know

8:18 PM Saturday; February 9, 2013
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat" iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
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 -
Feb 19, 2013 8:42 AM in response to Krolli53by allen6732,hi Krolli im having this same problem and its very frustrating.. what do you mean your imagent process? how do you change that?
really hope you can help
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by Ralph Johns (UK),Feb 19, 2013 11:19 AM in response to allen6732
Ralph Johns (UK)
Feb 19, 2013 11:19 AM
in response to allen6732
Level 9 (73,173 points)
ApplicationsHi
You linked back to this Post
Hey Ralph,
thank you very much for your help! It was the imagent process which was blocked by the little snitch rules on port 80...
Now I am happy to use iMessage from my MacBook
IMAgent is a support app that starts up when the computer does and "Listens" to all your Accounts in Messages (or iChat) and FaceTime.
What it will do then is open the relevant app if an Off Line message or call to FaceTime happens.
Little Snitch is a Application that can watch your internet connection for where to and from an App will be trying to connect to.
Most apps will try at least to "Call Home" when launched to check for Updates.
Others go further to confirm registration and ownership.
Krolli was saying he had either not allow IMAgent in a pop up on Launch or he had denied it Internet Access deliberately.
If you are not running Little Snitch then you have nothing to Change.
If you are launch Little Snitch and check the rules.
If you are Denying IMAgent alter the rule.

7:19 PM Tuesday; February 19, 2013
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat" iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
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 -
Mar 17, 2013 5:39 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)by MalachAthar,I just wanted to say thank you, Ralph.
No. 3) also worked for me!
Best,
B-OK
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by Ralph Johns (UK),Mar 17, 2013 2:54 PM in response to MalachAthar
Ralph Johns (UK)
Mar 17, 2013 2:54 PM
in response to MalachAthar
Level 9 (73,173 points)
Applications -
Oct 29, 2013 12:58 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)by karloscastaneda,Hi Ralph,
I've just upgraded to OSX Mavericks... And the iMessage on this iMac no longer works after the upgrade.
I read what you wrote above:
If the issues appears across several Mac User Accounts then it is either being caused by a network issue or the Mac's Serial Number is missing.
You can either look in System Info (Hold the ALT key whilst accessing the Apple Icon Menu) or using the About this Mac option in the Apple Icon menu then clicking the line that tell you the Current OS version twice (one click shows the Build Number and the second click shows the Serial Number)
In this instance... My serial number is missing.
Reason being is that I had a problem with the logic board on this iMac (2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 with 16 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 and an ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB) about 9 months after I bought it from Apple... So I contacted Apple directly and they asked me to send it away to a local Apple authorised repair centre. Thus, it was repaired (all under the terms of the "Apple Care Protection Plan" that I bought with this machine) and was returned to me with a clean bill of health.
Saying that... When the Mac came back... And I needed some tech support to help me iron out a few creases that I was experiencing on the hard drive after reinstalling my files from my Time Capsule, I noticed that the Serial Number was not appearing in the "About This Mac" as it usually used to. Apple told me that this was because the logic board had been changed. !? I aksed them if this might cause any problems and they - at the time - said no, not really.
However, now, I cannot sign into iMessage on this machine... ! Hmmm.
Do you have any ideas about how I might overcome this 'issue' and get iMessage up and running on this iMac once again?
Kind regards,
KarlOS
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Oct 29, 2013 9:26 AM in response to karloscastanedaby davshirley,I too have a LB with no serial number on it due to being replaced earlier. I found that after mavericks I cannot log into imessage and facetime. (connection just times out like everyone here has already described)
I went and grabbed the program used to burn the serial number inter a new board and burned my serial number into the board. "About This Mac" now reports the correct serial number but my ability to log into imessage and facetime has not changed.
So for everyone that is suggesting that a missiing serial number will keep you from being able to log in, I would say that I have proved that it is not the issue.
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Oct 29, 2013 10:07 AM in response to davshirleyby karloscastaneda,davshirley wrote:
So for everyone that is suggesting that a missiing serial number will keep you from being able to log in, I would say that I have proved that it is not the issue.
Not really... There are too many other factors that we haven't ruled out yet.
Besides... I have various other Macs here running OSX Mavericks... And iMessage works on all of these.
The only difference between my iMac and these other machines is the fact that the iMac doesn't have a Serial Number.
Thus, I went through the four points that Ralph Johns mentioned above in this thread on the 4th February 2013... Alas no change on the iMac not logging in to iMessage.
So I spoke to Apple Tech Support earlier today and went through all the various things that could be wrong with the iMac... Nothing changed.
When I told them about the missing Serial Number, they said that that would be the cause of the problem with iMessage. As such, they recommended that I get it flashed onto my LB at a local Authorised Repair Centre. This, however, will not be free... And, bearing in mind that Apple were the ones who forgot to add the Serial Number back onto the LB in the first place, I'm not particularly happy.
Saying that... I noticed that you mentioned:
davshirley wrote:
I went and grabbed the program used to burn the serial number inter a new board and burned my serial number into the board. "About This Mac" now reports the correct serial number but my ability to log into imessage and facetime has not changed.
Can I please find out from you what the name of this program is... And where one might get a copy too... ?
Kind regards,
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Oct 29, 2013 12:02 PM in response to karloscastanedaby davshirley,There is a discussion with a link in it here: http://rogersm.net/icloud-problems-mountain-lion-serial-number
Be sure you get the serial number right. If there is any doubt what a digit is, best to wait until apple looks at it.
There are a few people that report that setting the serial number fixed it for them but I strongly suspect that they (like all of us) were trying many different things and simply may not know precisly WHICH thing fixed it for them.
All I can say with any degree of certainty is that setting the serial number on my blank logic board did NOT fix it. Given that the blank serial number worked just fine in imessage/facetime on mountain lion, I kinda doubt that apple would make a change in mavericks that would suddenly start requiring a serial number. Furthermore there are people that have posted that imessage/facetime is working fine for them on mavericks on machines that have blank serial numbers.
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Oct 29, 2013 12:40 PM in response to davshirleyby karloscastaneda,Thanks for the link.
davshirley wrote:
There is a discussion with a link in it here: http://rogersm.net/icloud-problems-mountain-lion-serial-number
Be sure you get the serial number right. If there is any doubt what a digit is, best to wait until apple looks at it.
There are a few people that report that setting the serial number fixed it for them but I strongly suspect that they (like all of us) were trying many different things and simply may not know precisly WHICH thing fixed it for them.
All I can say with any degree of certainty is that setting the serial number on my blank logic board did NOT fix it. Given that the blank serial number worked just fine in imessage/facetime on mountain lion, I kinda doubt that apple would make a change in mavericks that would suddenly start requiring a serial number. Furthermore there are people that have posted that imessage/facetime is working fine for them on mavericks on machines that have blank serial numbers.
Regarding the lack of a Serial Number as a problem with some Apple software...
I have read in several threads here in the ASC (and elsewhere) that others have had similar issues with OSX Mountain Lion where, if there was no Serial Number on the LB, then some of the iCloud based software programs wouldn't fucntion/work properly. See here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766030
Also... In this thread:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/11308918#11308918
...it would appear that the lack of a Serial Number on various Mac LBs operating under OSX 10.6.3 prevented Adobe's CS3 from functioning... However, Apple did release an OSX10.6 update soon after that ensured that this problem was overcome.
Thus, at least from my perspective, it would appear that Apple have indeed before made changes to their OS to accomodate the fact that machines without Serial Numbers can sometimes pose a problem when running various types of software (both Apple or third party).
Still... It's certainly interesting to hear you mention that some people who have Macs without Serial Numbers on their LBs have posted that they have iMessage working fine. Means there's definitely more to this matter than we understand at present.
Will let you know if flashing the Serial Number sorts out my logging into iMessage problem next week.