Q: Could not sign in to iMessage.

that update is not supported on my systerm, is what i got. i'm also having issues signing into messages on my mac mini, i'm able to get messages on all 3 devices, but not on my mac mini. i tried deleting the key for signing into my messages, but now its sort of stuck on the final step to authenticate on my mac mini, i wonder if i just ruined my chances of recieving imessages on my iphone.

this has just recently happened, this past saturday night, i was just all of a sudden not able to sign into messages on my mac, it just said it wasnt able to register and to try again later, but no luck. i have no apple care for my mac mini, so they'd have to charge me 19 dollars just for phone support, but it seems many people have either fixed the problem and arent stating it, or the troubleshooting that people are typing here arent working. and i'm one of them. i've never customized open ports or changed tcp/ip, or anything on my mac. what do i do?

Hi,

If it is missing the only certain way I know of getting it replaced is to take it to an Apple Store or Apple Authorised Service Provider.

I have seen two posts where people said that the computer was started up whilst using CMD + N keys.

I have tried this on an older Core Duo 2007 MacBook Pro with no luck  (It is running Snow Leopard)

Looking up this CMD + N it seems it starts the Mac from a  Network server which is something they may do In Store

9:22 PM      Tuesday; January 8, 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

Hi,

We now seem to have two groups of people.

Those without Serial Numbers that have had issues since updating to OS X 10.8.2/Messages verion 7.0.1

Those who have been registered that are now being told they are not.

The Messages app should not spontaneously lose the Apple ID used in the iMessages account.  You have to specifically Sign Out of the iMessages account or remove the Apple ID from an iPhone and let the sync process remove it from the Messages app (Normally at the next restart)

It is difficult to work out what is going on in these cases.

Have you been able to add the Apple ID you want to use to the iPhone for Messages ?

9:50 PM      Tuesday; January 8, 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

Hi,

thanks for the help.

I think I might have caused the problem by installing a new iPhone that is actually an old 2g model that doen't have imessages capabilities... So no loging into my Apple ID was done. Also no icloud. Maybe this got the whole system confused.

Yaron

Hi,

Did you have an iPhone that was suitable where you removed the Apple ID from ?

10:20 PM      Tuesday; January 8, 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

Possibly. The 2g is actually tinkered with so it seems like 6.0.1 but says 3.1.3...

I have 4 other idevices all working fine with messages and facetime. (MacBook Pro, iPad, iPhone 3gs, iPod 4g).

The one which is broken is an iMac 20".

Y.

Hi,

If you removes the Apple ID on one iPhone you will get an Alert messages to say it "cannot be used anywhere else"

A restart of Messages at this point will normally cause issues

You can re-add the Apple ID to the iPhone and restart Messages afterwards.

I have used this method to exclude a second iPhone Number from the Message App on the Mac.

The Mac version then Notifies you that the iPhone will be Using the number and the ID and you can Accept or Deny using them.

It does sound like you have disabled the Apple ID in the actions you have done.

10:31 PM      Tuesday; January 8, 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

I think I have an idea of what happend. I'll check it tomorrow and let you know.

Thanks for the help.

Good night.

Y.

so what seems to be the issue with me? i only ever had one apple ID. never touched the network settings on my comp, i have no problem recieving imessages on my iphone/ipad/ipod but my mac mini cant sign into it. what do i do? any suggestions for recent people still having this problem?

just an update:

i signed out of each messages app on all my apple devices, and still was not able to correct the problem on my mac mini. so i dont even know whats going on. i hope apple doesnt charge me for this error on their end.

Hi,

Once the Apple IDs were Off the iPhones did you re-add them ?

If you did, did you then restart Messages on the Mac ?

9:05 PM      Wednesday; January 9, 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

didnt work, i had to pay 19 dollars to fix this dang mess. basically i did this with the apple woman:

had to delete cache items by holding cmd i think and pressing library in finder, than take out these plist files from preferences that had anything like imagent or imessage, anything like that was moved to desktop. than had to do a pram refresh by shutting down mac and holding down cmd+optn+r+p as soon as i press power button, i'd hold down those 4 buttons until i hear the computer restart twice than let go. and poof that fixed issue, deleted old plist files that were on desktop.

HI,

Although not in this thread those actions (As two separate things - delete plist and a PRAM reset) are things I have suggested elsewhere.

Deleting .plists and resetting the PRAM does seem bit strong.

Deleting the .plist and a normal restart may have done it  (IMAgent would have called the plist to "Listen" for Off line calls and that would have rewritten the .plist)

However a PRAM rest is not to be sniffed at as a tool to reset the computer in a minor way when things cannot be tracked down that specifically

10:32 PM      Wednesday; January 9, 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

i dont know. what i listed is what the woman told me to do. i guess it was to be on the safe side and not take a longer route to figure out what to do. i just wish it wasnt something i had to pay for is all.

I too was having this problem, couldn't sign into iMessage or Facetime. I had my motherboard replaced 2 years ago but they didn't flash my serial number back so had a serial number of "# System Serial".

Doing a little digging I found Apple use a program called "Blank Board Serial" to write the serial number to the rom of the motherboard. I was able to use this program to update my motherboard's serial number to the one on the case of my MBP. After a reboot I was able to login to iMessage and FaceTime with no trouble.

It seems Apple are now using the serial numbers of Macs to authorise iMessage and Facetime. So if you have a mac without a serial you need to get the motherboard rom updated.