Cannot sign into Messages on Mountain Lion OSX

HI,

You Migrated a whole User account form another computer ?

Is there any sign that the .plists you deleted have been replaced once you restarted the app ?

I can see that if you have tried a New Mac User or even just a different Mac User that has not been Migrated then Messages should work and the .plists should get re-written.

My first thought is that the Ownership and Permissions of the Migrated stuff is messed up, such you might not "own" the ~/Library

Have you updated the Mac OS ?

If so at what level are you ?

Also what version in Messages ?

7:39 PM Thursday; October 25, 2012

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

Ralph,

Using Migration Assistant (first boot) yes everything was migrated.

Admitedly, I have not repaired my permissions yet.

Yes, the .plists repopulate. (easy to see when you give it a preferences lobotomy)

Again, even with a different, and a completely new User account the software fails to connect (other apple ID's too)

being that I tried both a different user (also migrated) and a completely new user account, and that fails, the issue is ostensibly not a user one, but a system issue. Again, I can log in and out of these Apple ID's on a different computer

I will need to verify what level the software is at, I should be current, but I have heard that too many times from other people when it was not the case to guarantee it.

I am not on that computer until later tonight (MTN time)

if permissions and being current do not do it. I am going to put a fresh install of the OS onto a different Drive with no migrated User data and see what happens then.

Not sure if this could be an issue... A while ago Apple allowed apple ID's to not be email addresses.

such as "neurascenic" instead of neurascenic@apple.com

The previous computer that this was migrated from was logged into everything as "neurascenic" this could somehow be holding everything up (I have run across other issues with this, but could clear them by thrashing the .plist associated) Just a thought

Chris

 iMac 3.4hz i7 2011 (Lion 10.7.4)

--> Issues  MacPro 2.4Ghz Xeon 12 Core (Mountain Lion 10.8.x) 12GB RAM 10 TB HD (6 drives)

 MacBook Air 11" 1.4Ghz (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)

 few iPhones and a couple of iPads

Hi,

At OS X 10.8.2 then Messages will be a version 7.0.1

Before that it has not been updated.

I would agree that if the .plists in the Mac User Account are being renewed then you do have Ownership and Read and Write permissions. (Throws out Migration Issue)

The fact it effects more then one user does suggest either the app is faulty or the support app and Frameworks have issues or there is a System issue.

Does it work in Safe Mode ?

The "Repair Permissions does sound like good idea (Although this is a "less strong" remedy that it used to be)

9:42 PM Thursday; October 25, 2012

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

So, yet another with same problems, or even worse as it seems.

I had my apple id tied to icloud on all mac,iphone,ipad, imessages (on ios), app store and ios app store, all working fine when using lion. I upgraded to ML then and all **** broke loose, when trying to use messages.

iphone on ios5, ipad on ios6 (and no im not going to upgrade iphone on ios6 for next half a year), mac on osx 10.8.2

So, messager nor facetime doesn't work. I tried all tricks here;

- I had 8.8.8.8 already in dns

- cleared /etc/hosts + number of reboots, no

- reboot in safe mode, reboot back, didn't work

- reboot in safe mode, try messages there, didn't work

- deleted plists, shut down imagent, like 10 times with and without reboots, no help

- new apple id, no go (not this apple id - i had to create 2, see later)

- logged off on both devices, to flight mode, reboot mac - no

- decided to comment on this thread. Yeah. Sign in - for added security, sign again - for added security, sign again and see image below.

After that, I cannot even access discussions.apple.com as I'm thrown to apple login page. If I try to login, same happens. Both chrome and safari. Using incognito chrome window and new apple id, I'm able to login here (deleting cookies brings back ability to browse without signing in - I'm not too eagar to try again so let's use incognito for now).

Also tried to change my password; icloud, imessages etc. where i was logged in on ios devices threw me out, like icloud on mac. Still cannot login even on this forum.

I did try new account, which was initially signed in with my apple id. Logged on to account, messages opened automatically - didn't see any login screens, so I guess it worked. Didn't sen any messages though. I switched back and deleted that account, have to try again if it would work.

Also, how do you reverse (reversed) sort order (by name) on desktop? I had it on reverse on lion when upgrading, and now it's locked?

After ios6 maps disaster, I guess I should have been more careful on updates but oh man this is horrible.

oh; mid 2010 macbook pro, with sl -> lion -> ml upgrades.

Hm, funny, I guess. I have no idea what exactly I now did, but I suddenly got logged in to messages. Sending and receiving messages do succeed. I did put ios devices to flight safe mode, and rebooted mac after signing out from icloud and closing app store & itunes, but I tried that already multiple times earlier.

I can now also login to facetime from ipad, iphone and mac. Still cannot login here though.

Odd.

HI,

It does seem odd.

It also looks like what did work is now hidden by all the different attempts to sort this.

8:50 PM Sunday; October 28, 2012

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

Hi. Message are still not working for me. i did another print:

i've deleted de .plists, but nothing happened. i've repaired the permissions too. what else can i do?

HI,

In iTunes when it is set on the Store page there is a Help column at the Bottom

Click the Support items and it will launch a web Page

On that page chose Contact Support.

In the New page choose Contact iTunes Store Support in the top item on the right.

Select Account Management in the following page.

Choose the top item in the box on the right

Use email link.

This will get you in touch with an Apple Person that can look at your account in more detail and possibly reset the iMessages registration for you.

8:44 PM Monday; November 5, 2012

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

Great tip. Solved my problem 100%! What I did was put a copy of unaltered host file back in place, restarted mac, signed in to messages, then put modified host file back and restart. Guess what? Messages and Facetime both work. I have an iPhone3gs and I cannot iMessages to activate, but on my iPod touch it does work. I can send iMessages from iPhone3gs, But I Messages won't allow me to use my mobile number as a recipient cause mobile number doesn't appear as registered to the iMessage system.

This thread seems to describe my current issue. I used Migration Assistant to set up a new-to-me 2011 MacBook Pro with my iMac preferences. Everything that I have tried so far -- except Messages -- seems to work as it should.

On Messages, however, I am unable to sign in with my Apple ID. I am using the correct username and password, and Messages works fine with that same Apple ID on my other devices. On the new machine, my account is listed as "inactive" and I receive the same message that others have quoted on this thread:

"Could not sign in to iMessage.

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

This message has been happening over the past several hours throughout today.

I've tried:

- Under Messages > Preferences > Accounts, using the Sign Out option for the account and re-adding the Apple ID.

- Deleting any .plist files referring to iChat/IM.

(They repopulate, so I do not have a permissions issue.)

- Trying to sign in with my alternate Apple ID.

(It also fails to sign in, giving the same error message as when I try with my main one.)

- Restarting the machine entirely to ensure that Messages has been fully closed.

- Repairing and verifying my permissions.

- Copying the .plist files from the computer on which Messages works to the new machine.

- Trying to sign in when the other machine is turned off.

- Combinations of all of the above.

Varying efforts consistently yield the same inactive iMessage account and I am running out of ideas. I read the other suggestions in this thread and the ones that I understand seem to focus on checking connectivity, which I have. (This is all over the same WiFi that the iMac with the functioning Messages uses.) Does anyone familiar with this have other ideas? Thanks in advance.

Progressive Screenshots

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Step 5:

Problem Solved

Like most everyone else, I tried all of the suggestions and nothing worked. But what did work was fixing my hosts file. I would try this solution first.

Here are the steps:

1. Open terminal
2. Type "sudo su" (enter your Mac password when prompted)
3. Go to /usr/etc you will see a file called "hosts" and another called hosts~orig
4. Type "cp hosts hosts~full" (saves your current host file as hosts~full)
5. Type "cp hosts~orig hosts" (saves the original clean hosts file and makes it now the active hosts file)
6. Shut down and restart (not reboot). (There is a command that flushes the old hosts file form memory and makes the new clean hosts file active but I don't remember it and I'm too lazy to search.)
7. Log into iChat.
8. If you have customized your hosts file and need it back, you can now copy hosts~full back to hosts, restart, and iChat will still work.

when you say "go to" in step 3...is that within terminal? what do i type there?

HI,

It needs a "cd" (Change Directory) instruction in there.

I don't know enough about Terminal Instructions to say more.

I used a different method to access that file

In the Finder (i.e. it is the App listed in the Menu Bar) > Go Menu > Go to Folder

Type the /usr/etc in the dialogue box that appears

The Finder window that the dialogue box is attached to will then go to the /usr/etc folder

You can search for the Hosts file.

I highlighted it and then used Open With and then TextEdit to open the File to check the information.

I did not have any problems Saving the File back to the etc folder but sometimes you have to jump through various Permissions hoops.

10:09 PM Saturday; December 22, 2012

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

Stika,

It means go to that directory. You need to type "cd /usr/etc" and that should bring you there. To confirm you are in the correct directory, after you've typed that, type "ls" and you should see a list of all the files including "hosts" and such.

fly_boyz: Awesome that fixing your hosts file worked for you!

Unfortunately, not so much for me. I'm going to keep watching this thread to see whether any new ideas pop up.