HT204408: Get help signing in to Messages, FaceTime, and Game Center

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Q: FaceTime: "The server encountered an error processing registration. Please try again later."

I just bought my iMac yesterday.  This is my first Mac since I have always used Windows PC so I am still trying to familiarise myself with OS X.  Everything else seems to work except Facetime. Each time I log in to Facetime, it is giving me the error message - "The server encountered an error processing registration.  Please try again later."

 

I have tried checking the web for possible solutions but none seem to fix the problem.  My date and time are already set automatically. I also checked the hosts file under /private/etc/hosts and it looks like this which seems to be OK.

 

##

# 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                             locahost

fe80::1%lo0               locahost

 

I also checked the Keychain Access for login Certificates and it is empty.

 

I'm not sure what else to do. Any suggestions please?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Jul 22, 2012 3:57 PM

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Q: FaceTime: "The server encountered an error processing registration. Please try again later."

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  • by bnwimmer,

    bnwimmer bnwimmer Jul 22, 2012 4:06 PM in response to 7of9
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 22, 2012 4:06 PM in response to 7of9

    Look at the posts some minutes ago. Apple says servers for stationary facetime clients are down...

  • by 7of9,

    7of9 7of9 Jul 22, 2012 4:17 PM in response to bnwimmer
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 22, 2012 4:17 PM in response to bnwimmer

    Can you please provide the link for the Apple post about the server being down?  This could be the cause of the problem since I also bought my daughter an iPad yesterday and her Facetime login also does not work.

  • by bnwimmer,

    bnwimmer bnwimmer Jul 22, 2012 4:35 PM in response to 7of9
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 22, 2012 4:35 PM in response to 7of9
  • by bnwimmer,

    bnwimmer bnwimmer Jul 22, 2012 4:42 PM in response to 7of9
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 22, 2012 4:42 PM in response to 7of9

    BTW you daughter needs an own Apple ID or your ID that is fully verified. on an ipad without 3G you have to register an email that is verified in your Apple account to identify this device to other apple facetime users. Please see you email account for apple emails to verify you email adress by weblink.

    The facetime server error only affects Macs in the moment. the mobile devices log in to a different server as I read some minutes before.

  • by bnwimmer,

    bnwimmer bnwimmer Jul 22, 2012 4:44 PM in response to bnwimmer
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 22, 2012 4:44 PM in response to bnwimmer
  • by 7of9,Solvedanswer

    7of9 7of9 Jul 22, 2012 5:37 PM in response to bnwimmer
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 22, 2012 5:37 PM in response to bnwimmer

    I found a solution to my problem. I had to create a new Apple ID for my iMac and it worked! I was using the same Apple ID I had used on my iPhone 4S and it was resulting to the error I mentioned above. After creating a new Apple ID for my iMac, I can now log in to Facetime on my iMac. 

     

    The same solution worked for my daughter on her new laptop. She was using her Apple ID on her iPhone 4 on her new iPad 3 and it was causing an error when she logs in to Facetime on her iPad. She then created a new Apple ID for her iPad and she can now use Facetime on her iPad.

     

    It appears you need a different Apple ID when using Facetime on different Apple devices! Facetime probably needs a unique Apple ID per device so it will be able to know which device to call.

  • by Andrew No Thanks,

    Andrew No Thanks Andrew No Thanks Jul 29, 2013 12:15 PM in response to 7of9
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 29, 2013 12:15 PM in response to 7of9

    While this may be a work around for you, it is most certainly NOT the case that you need a seperate, unique Apple ID for every Apple device you own. There is clearly a bug in FaceTime that is causing problems for users, but creating multiple Apple accounts will only lead to complications later — especially if you use different accounts to purchase apps or other content from iTunes.

     

    I suggest you take the offending device(s) to your AppleStore and get someone to help you out. This is (usually) a free service offered by Apple.

     

    Meanwhile, Apple might lend a hand by focusing on ironing out the bugs from their network services. Network / web services have always been an Achillies heel for Apple, which has consistently had problems with its web / cloud-based services. At hardware solutions Apple is pure genius, but at web and cloud services it truly *****! Lets hope they eventually wake up to the fact that this is detrimental to users' experience of their lovely hardware.