Can't sign in on iMessage and FaceTime after upgrading to ML

OK I got it fixed!!!!! Apple support was very helpful and spent over an hour with me on the phone. They are seeing this happening to lot of people so we are not the only ones 🙂 Here is what worked for me:

1: Open finder

2: Click "go" in the above menu

3: Click "go to folder"

4: Type "/private/etc"

5: Find the folder: "hosts" and delete it

6: Shutdown the computer

7: Start while holding "option" then double click on the recovery disk and hit reinstall Mountain Lion

This will replace the original corrupted "hosts" file that was deleted earlier. It will take a couple hours because it has to re download ML but after its done and restarts you should be good to go.

I had the same issue and after reading this thread i've resloved my issue without doing an entire reinstall of the OS.

I had a modified host file prior to my upgrade to Mountain Lion, got the same unable to reach server errors for both iMessage and Facetime.

Looking in the /private/etc folder there are copies of the host file, presume these are created during the upgrade etc. Basically I backed up my current modified (or corrupt) file, renamed the hosts~orginal file to host, quick reboot and the iMessage and Facetime activated.

Then i re-added the additonal lines to the hosts file, rebooted and iMessage / Facetime work fine as do my own IP/DNS records

Example:

Naviage to /private/etc from terminal

sudo mv hosts hosts-backupfile

sudo mv hosts~org hosts

REBOOT

iMessage / Facetime now activate

None of the other solutions worked for me. BUT THIS ONE worked.

I did:

Navigate to /private/etc from terminal

sudo mv hosts hosts-backupfile

sudo mv hosts~orig hosts

then restarted my imac and I could activate imessage and facetime without problems.

Thanks drewski08

I also had success using drewski08's solution:

• Navigate to /private/etc from terminal
• sudo mv hosts hosts-backupfile
• sudo mv hosts~orig hosts
• restart computer

Thanks drewski08!

drewski08 THANK YOU! That worked like a charm 🙂

Actually, for Terminal hesitating people: no need to sudo, the file hosts is reachable within the Finder, copy paste it on the Desktop and work on it from there, then paste it back to the private/etc/ folder.

Mac OSX will ask you for an admin pass a couple of time during these steps.

No need to reboot for the iMessage and Facetime activation.

Thanks again!

Thanks gents, hopefully this is a resolution to this issue! This was driving me mad after last nights upgrade.

Happy iMessaging and facetiming! Lol

giambo, how do you find that folder in the Finder go to folder merely returns no such folder in 10.8.2

on the root of your HD, where you've got the System folder, try a go to: ⇧⌘G -> "private/etc" , has to be there 🙂

<Macintosh HD>/private/etc

Hi,

Finder (As "Front" app)

Go Menu

Go to Folder item

Dialogue box

7:17 PM Sunday; October 21, 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

It's working!!!!!!! Thank you very much!!!!

HI

It should look like this

https://skitch.com/ralphjohns/esch4/hosts

7:36 PM Friday; October 26, 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,

In that case that file is not the problem for you.

8:13 PM Friday; October 26, 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

Ok after 2 hours of playing with various things and reading Apple Support Communities, I have managed to fix this for my friend. The issue is really access to the iMessage and FaceTime servers but plain copying of original hosts maybe an issue if you have something valuable there. What I've done was /private/etc/hosts file review and commenting the lines I didn't like. For example, you may want to comment the lines, involving Thawte, Verisign etc. - those may be used as security providers while establishing channels with servers. I mean, there is no recipe, just open hosts and edit it, thinking of what do the lines contain - some lines prevent iMessage and FaceTime from building the service for you - there is no other way in case you are logged into iCloud and everything works fine on other devices.