Dictation not working on Mountain Lion?

Nice summarised, Raju.

I did some more research on problem B. I am using an Apple Airport Extreme router with my iMac (working dictation) on Ethernet and MBP (with problem B) on Wifi. Taking the suggestion that it might be a LAN problem, I switched the connections over so that the MBP is on Ethernet and the iMac is on Wifi. No difference. Dictation continues to work on the iMac regardless of whether if its connection is through Ethernet or Wifi. Dictation continues not to work on the MBP.

I tried deleting com.apple.assistant.plist from /user/Library/Preferences, turning Dictation off and then back on again, and then rebooting the system. Still the same problem. I noticed that there is an additional file called com.apple.assistant.token.plist. On the iMac where dictation works, quick previewing this file shows a list of keys for the different languages supported. On the MBP where dictation is not working, a list of supported languages is shown, but critically, the keys are all missing. I did a Google on com.apple.assistant.token.plist and found that a similarly-named file on the iPhone that controls how the iPhone connects with Siri servers and that this file was introduced as a way to thwart people hacking Siri. I am suspecting whether if Apple may have coded some bugs inadvertently into dictation in ML to thwart dictation server hacking. This might be why my MBP is unable to generate the correct key to contact the Apple servers. Blame it on the people trying to hack Siri to work on unofficial devices! 😟 😠

I have deleted the tokens file away to see whether if the MBP will regenerate a new working copy but this has so far proved unsuccessful. As the keys are however tied in to indivual system, copying the file from the working iMac over to the MBP doesn't help. I have spent the last few nights trying to troubleshoot this problem with no success. C'mon Apple, what happened to "It just works" ???

Okay so here's what I did. I changed my DNS settings to Google's DNS settings 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

Now I am using dictation to type this message.

I switched back to my original DNS settings and it seemed to work on and off, but once I came back to google's DNS settings it works fine.

I really hope this works for some of you, Good luck!!!

Oh, so it's only a bug if it doesn't work for Monty1945 ?

Thanks for setting the record straight.

No, it is only a bug when it is consistently reproducible along an entire class of machines, i.e., easily predictable or reproducible. If it was a true bug no one would be able able to use it, or it would exhibit the same type of problem across the spectrum. But is is working on mine, it is working on a friends MacMini, it is working on my former co-workers iMac (21.5"), it is working on another friends Retina. I do have one friend that had to go the route of the post above yours and switch to Google's DNS.

It should be clear by now that there are several different reasons why Dictation is not working for some.

Some of the reasons are DNS / internet connection related, some others seem 3rd party software related, and yet some others are not quite clear yet.

So yes, it might be too early to call it a bug, but it's also too early to dismiss it entirely.

No, I'm dismissing it as a systemic bug.

iRog,

I did the Google DNS switch earlier too just in case it was a case of my MBP not getting through to the servers.

For a short while, my hopes went up because they delay that I usually experience while activating Dictation seemed to have disappeared. However, it was still no go at the end. What was interesting was that an error message with "siri" appeared in the Console the first few times I did this. I have been unable to replicate that message since.

Is it a DNS propagation issue that is the problem here? I suppose with 3 million downloads of ML over 4 days, Apple's dictation servers must be pretty swamped by now?

Deggie,

By any chance are you and all your friends located in the USA?

The few reports I have seen with issues similar to mine seem to be running their Macs outside the US. I am wondering whether if Apple is using other servers for users outside the USA and whether if this might be the problem. I have tried setting the language to all the different options available (Australian, British, Canadian and US) but still no luck.

For me the DNS solution did not seem to work: I tried just adding those DNS numbers to the list given in my network settings (this made the others already listed disappear), but the problem persists. I don't know a lot about these things, but I do think this is an ethernet server-level problem. That is, it seems that if some settings (maybe related to DNS, or proxies?) are changed there it will work on my computer. But I haven't been able to test other machines on the same network yet, so its hard for me to rule out that it might relate to MacBook Pros in general. But if it were something that affected all MacBookPros, I do think we'd be hearing a LOT more about this. . .

Also, though I am outside the US (Japan), I am able to get through over a wi-fi network (which has minimal security), so I think the country theory doesn't work (though some other countries may of course have problems)

loyking,

I'm sorry the Google DNS did not work for you. As soon as I change the settings on mine and click apply, it works right away. I don't need to restart any application or reboot. I know this doesn't help you 😟

I happened to try it as I had to do that with my iphone sometime ago to get Imessage to work.

I am currently living in Grenada. (Caribbean)

On another note, since upgrading to ML, I found that I had to "unlock" a feature to install a few third party applications. Dictation comes preinstalled so i doubt its related, but maybe something in Security could be blocking you. I'm really not sure though. Sorry!

I had called the Apple Helpline a few days back and after an unsuccessful troubleshooting the problem was bumped to someone who said was from the engineering team. After another few rounds of trouble shooting he called me back and asked me to add the following DNS entries

1. 208.67.220.220 and

2. 208.67.222.222

and restart my machine. After these changes; the Dictation on my iMac is working.

PS:Previously I was having the Google DNS entries which now I have removed.

Hope this helps others.

I tried both the Google DNS and the entries above without success. At first, I thought it might be 1Password which was causing my problem (someone on another Apple thread mentioned this) because when I disabled it, Dictation worked for awhile.

However, this was short-lived and Dictation went back to working sporadically. So, then I started disabling other third-party software, namely BackBlaze, a backup program. Pausing it has allowed me to use Dictation for awhile now. I'm not sure how long this will last, but for me personally, Dictation does seem to be affected by other software.

And then again, as mentioned on this thread, others are finding it's DNS related. So hopefully we will all find out the answers, because when this program works, it's awesome. 🙂

drking

this fixed it for me 🙂

theo7777 wrote:

In settings, under dictation and speech, make sure that whatever audio input you are using is selected (below the purple microphone icon). Mine was set to automatic by default, and did not work. Changed to internal microphone and now works like a charm.

This works for me... im outside the US

Change the DNS

1. 208.67.220.220 and

2. 208.67.222.222

and restart my machine. After these changes; the Dictation on my iMac is working.

Thanks for sharing Raju K🙂

Hello folks,

I just wanted to make any 1Password users in this thread aware of an issue which may be affecting your use of Dication. This will not help folks who see the Dication microphone prompt appear but have network issues. With the issue I am describing, the prompt will not appear at all and a single tone is emitted. It is similar in every respect to the behavior exhibited when attempting to invoke Dication in a password field.

This will only apply if you are running 1Password and hide the 1Password app using the "Hide 1Password" menu command or the ⌘H keyboard shortcut. If that does not describe your situation, you will need to do some further investigation.

There is an issue with 1Password in Mountain Lion where hidingthe main application will enable Secure Input. The problem is related to Dictation insofar as Dictation is not available when Secure Input is enabled. Our friends at Smile (makers of TextExpander) have a great explanation of Secure Input:

Any application can enable Secure Input. With Secure Input enabled, all typing is passed directly to the active application — no other applications can observe your typing. Secure Input is used for entering passwords and other sensitive information. This means that if malicious key-logging software or “spy-ware” somehow gets on your system, it cannot record your passwords. Secure Input is generally enabled when you type into a password field. Some applications also enable Secure Input at other times.

We're investigating a fix for this, but the workarounds for now are:

1. Restore or "unhide" the main 1Password app if you have hidden it to "release" Secure Input.

2. Refrain from hiding 1Password. (Minimizing 1Password does not cause Secure Input to be enabled, so that will still work.)

3. Switch to another application rather than hiding 1Password and optionally use the "Hide Others" menu command or ⌥⌘H keyboard shortcutwhich will hide 1Password as well as all other applications not currently in focus. This does not enable Secure Input.

4. Obviously quitting 1Password will also release Secure Input.

I hope that helps for now until we can get this resolved. It appears to have just started in Mountain Lion, so we are still determining what exactly is causing it.

If we can be of further assistance with 1Password, please let us know. We are always here to help!

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Khad Young

Forum Choreographer, AgileBits

http://agilebits.com/support