ML 10.8.2 Cannot login to Messages, Facetime, or Game Center

GlennLock wrote:

This is truly maddening. How many things am I/we going to have to attempt prior to Apple stepping in and supporting their own software. We should not be responsible for troubleshooting publicly released software.

Something bad happened during the release of Mountain Lion. It's like the support documentation and such was put together in a couple of days. I think this is a non-trivial black-eye on the dev team if you asked me. I love the product, but particularly from a server standpoint, whoever the program manager for support docs was should be let go (barring any other outstanding circumstances).

For instance - you look up Dovecot config on the developer.apple.com support site for the ML Server manual, and all you get is 10.7.4. There's not even a mention of 10.8, and 10.7.4 is totally different from a file structure standpoint (which will undoubtedly mess some people up).

If Microsoft released a server product without even listing the version in a drop-down, people would burn down Redmond. Now, there *is* a Mountain Lion Server Advanced Administration guide which one would think would do the trick. Nope. Here is the section on Authentication from the "advanced admin" guide:

THAT, my friend, is it. That is the *entire* scope of "authentication" for the "advanced" guide. I'd rather them just give me a paper cut and put lemon juice on it.

If I was the PM for server docs, my guys would be in the office right now churning out documentation and working overtime to get it done. Even if I got fired for the cost, the goram docs would be out to support the customer.

/rant over. Thanks for listening 🙂

<Edited by Host>

Hi Thor HoG,

The Serial Number issue did not appear until we had Messages at Version 7.0.1 from the OS X 10.8.2 update.

Before that the issue of not being able to sign in was solved by one of three actions.

1 ) For some it was adding a Public DNS server to their System Preferences > Network > Advanced Button > DNS tab. (it seems some ISPs don't list particularly up to date DNS servers).

2 ) Some people found that going to Activity Monitor (Application/Utilities) and Quitting IMAgent (It appears in lower case characters) and then restarting Messages (or the computer) would seem to solve it.

IMAgent is a support app for both FaceTime and Messages.

It starts up when the computer is launched and "listens" for Off Line iMessages, FaceTime calls and AIM IMs and if it "hears" one it will start up the app. (in this case for "Off Line" in mean the computer is ON but the app is not started up).

Quitting in the Activity Monitor will need either a computer restart or a restart of FaceTime or Messages to make it start up again.

3 ) The Hosts file has some very simple instructions as to where the computer will allow incoming contact from.

There is some suggestion that some Adobe products alter this file to ensure the app can "call Home" as part of a registration check and that some people alter their Host files accordingly if they have illegal copies. Others have found that Verisign has been Blocked. Verisign is often seen in the Keychain with keys for many apps verified this way.

The vanilla version of the Hosts file has been posted and people had to comment out (Add a # at the start of a line) that was different.

In terms of "fixes" the IMAgent one appeared first followed by the DNS and then Hosts file methods.

7:37 PM Saturday; February 16, 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

Ralph Johns (UK) wrote:

Hi Thor HoG,

The Serial Number issue did not appear until we had Messages at Version 7.0.1 from the OS X 10.8.2 update.

Hey Ralph -

I honestely don't know if I was even using it before 10.8.2. I actually don't think I was. However, the hosts file was indeed part of my troubleshooting even at 10.8.2. Not to be pedantic, but the hosts file doesn't specify where the computer will "allow incoming traffic from." It only serves as a name resolution option before DNS is used. I'm sure you know that, but it was just worded funny.

I've never had the IMAgent kill work. Better stated, I can kill it, but it spawns again immediately ; it's so fast I can't even see it happen. I'm trying to figure out how I can route all mail marked **junk** to a specific user, but after I do that I'll mess about some more with this.

One thing I thought of just to have it be cool is to remotely invoke the app similar to what you can do with MSFT Terminal Services Gateway. But I don't know how to do it. Can you use that X something for that?

t

Hi Thor HoG,

It seems that version of the OS are now changing faster than I was aware.

I am sure that in earlier versions of Mountain Lion that IMAgent required needed to be restarted "Manually" as it were by either triggering it by one of the Apps that use it or be restarting the computer.

I have just rechecked it on your comments and found it does respawn now even if both Messages and FaceTime are set to the "When I Quit, set the Status to Off line" and "Off" in the relevant apps that stops the IMAgent app "Listening" for Off line calls.

I agree the Host file wording was not the best I could have used.

I also try to explain things as simply as possible (it's the way I like things explained to me)

The Mail app is not my "thing" so to speak.

At the quoted bit below you have lost me I am afraid.

One thing I thought of just to have it be cool is to remotely invoke the app similar to what you can do with MSFT Terminal Services Gateway. But I don't know how to do it. Can you use that X something for that?

9:06 PM Saturday; February 16, 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

At the quoted bit below you have lost me I am afraid.

One thing I thought of just to have it be cool is to remotely invoke the app similar to what you can do with MSFT Terminal Services Gateway. But I don't know how to do it. Can you use that X something for that?

Looks like MY wording wasn't the best I could have used 🙂 I may be totally off base, but a brief overview of X11 made me think it was possible to use X11 functionality to access remote window components. I'm not sure if that means it's just a wrapper where we can feed our own code into the windows, or if you can actually connect to a specific instance of an application. Like I said, I could be WAY off on that. I was just thinking of something that could give me the "remote app" functionality Win RDP gives you. "Remote App" is a bit of a misnomer as it's simply an RDP instance of the app as appossed to the desktop.

If I could do that, I could just use iMessage directly on my screen from my Mini. Of course, I could always ARD into it, but that's another thing.

Actually, this gave me another idea. I'm going to yank the drive on my Mini and stick it in my eSCSI chassis, create a VM where my main drive is the eSCSI, and then clone it to a virtual partition. Then I can boot from it and see if iMessage works then. I don't know what that will prove, but it will be cool 🙂

t

Hi,

I also do not have enough experience with X11 to be able to tell.

I installed it to use Gimp at one point but have not played with it nearly enough.

I understand that Gimp now has a OS X interface as well.

One thing extra from me as well.

In iChat if the person was using both Wifi and Ethernet (or other means of creating two routes to the Internet) the app would have issue in Video and Audio Chats.

iChat requires that these peer-to-peer connections can verify the IP address of the chatees.

It is aimed at stopping man-in-the-middle attacks and having two active IPs on a LAN can do that.

So can sharing a Wifi connection with a neighbour whilst using Ethernet on your own LAN.

There was also an issue in Leopard where a computer making a Sharing Internet connection with a second computer would "see" the internet in iChat via that second computer (or in some cases a phone and it's carrier connection as well adding in to the mix).

Although I have seen nothing in any of the posts to suggest it, I am wondering if the Serial Number AND a Internet connection ID may be linked in this issue.

9:51 PM Saturday; February 16, 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

iMessage is working for me again. 🙂 There is a fix listed on tonymacx86.com I documented my fix here: http://sugarjets.com/imessage-fix-for-login-issues/02/

FamousAmos wrote:

iMessage is working for me again. 🙂 There is a fix listed on tonymacx86.com I documented my fix here: http://sugarjets.com/imessage-fix-for-login-issues/02/

W00t! Thanks for posting this! It would have been a while before I moseyed over to tonymac to find that... Works like a charm!

Thx again.

t

Hello!

I´m on Macbook pro, not a hackintosh. How does this Chimera work? will it affect only the boot of my system or does it mess with other issues as well?

danielsosmacfrance wrote:

Hello!

I´m on Macbook pro, not a hackintosh. How does this Chimera work? will it affect only the boot of my system or does it mess with other issues as well?

Hey danielosmacfrance -

The short answer is "you can't use Chimera on a real Mac." You can install it, you can run Chamelon Wizard and add new serial numbers, system types, etc, etc, but it ignores it. If I find a way to swtich boot to Chimera I'll come back and let you know.

If your on a legit mac, I wouldn't waste your time.

omg you are my hero i love u!

Hi,

You are welcome.

Which of the items in the post you linked to worked for you ?

8:29 PM Thursday; February 28, 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

you said something about stopping something in the activity monitor.

Great.

(IMAgent)

Thank you.

8:44 PM Thursday; February 28, 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