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I cannot hear others on iChat but they can hear me

I use Messages (formerly iChat) ever morning to video chat with my mom and brother. For some odd reason, today, I cannot hear them but they can hear me. I have rebooted twice and run Repair Permissions, Disk Repair and cleaned out caches. Still nothing. I was able to use Facetime with my brother and I could hear him that way (from my Mac). I have checked my Sound preferences in Messages and System Preferences and all is right. I even tried sharing Desktops with my mom and no sound. What else can I try?

MacPro Quad-Core 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM, 4 internal SATA drives, Mac OS X (10.7.2), Airport Extreme, 30MB cable internet

Posted on Feb 16, 2013 9:24 AM

Reply
30 replies

Feb 16, 2013 1:19 PM in response to Linda Cameron

Hi,


In a Video chat open the Connection Doctor (Video Menu) and check the Audio response bar is green.

This will tell you they are sending Audio. It does not tell you whether the sound is audible though. (bit like a radio carrier wave may not have speech or music sent at the same time).


It is more common for the Mic at the other end to be turned Off or have the Volume set too low that anything at your end.


I will explain it for you and your end and you can "translate' it for them.


IN the Video Menu of ichat or Messages is the setting for whether the Mic is On or Off.

The wording varies "Microphone Enabled" in older version "Audio Chat Enabled" in later versions including Messages.

Selecting this item toggles a tick indicating tick, On and no tick, Off.


The Microphone seen in App Menu > Preferences > Video section > Microphone Drop Down has to match the one in System Preferences > Sound > Input tab.

With Headsets, particularly Blue Tooth ones, the order in which these tow settings are set up can play a part.

System Preferences > Sound > Input has to be done "first".

If it was not then in both places set anything but the Mic as the input choice.

Then chose the Mic to be set up in System Preferences > Sound > Input "first"

Then set iChat or Messages to the same choice.


The next important bit is that the volume in System Preferences > Sound > Input also has to be set high enough without being too high.

In here you will see the blue response bar move when you talk.

When talking at the volume you use for chats the bar must get at least half way, preferably 3/4s but NOT bump into the right hand end as this causes "Clipping".


In iChat/Messages > Preferences > Video section the green response bar below the Video preview will move but not as high.


User uploaded file
9:19 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

Feb 18, 2013 7:22 AM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

I tried all those suggestions but I still hear nothing on iChat when I connect for video or audio chats. They hear me, and I can see them but not hear them. I have another internal hard drive with Mountain Lion installed, so I booted from that drive and was able to use Messages just fine, but all my stuff is set up on this system, so I am not inclined to stay on the other one just to use Messages. I want to get Messages to work. I am beginning to think I may have to reinstall my system unless there is a way to reinstall Messages by itself?

Feb 18, 2013 7:28 AM in response to Linda Cameron

Read this whole message before doing anything.

Back up all data.

Quit Messages if it’s running.

Step 1

Hold down the option key and select

Go Library

from the Finder menu bar. Move the following items from the Library folder to the Trash (either may not exist):


  • Caches/com.apple.Messages
  • Caches/com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent


Leave the Library folder open. Log out and log back in. Try Messages again. If it works now, stop here. Close the Library folder.

Step 2

If you still have problems, quit Messages again. Go back to the Finder and move the following item from the open Library folder to the Desktop:


Messages


Note: you are not moving the Messages application. You’re moving a folder named “Messages.”

Test. If Messages now works, delete the Messages folder on the Desktop. Otherwise, quit Messages again. Put back the folder you moved, overwriting the newer one that may have been created in its place, and continue.

Step 3

In the Preferences subfolder, there may be several files having names that begin with "com.apple.iChat". Move them all to the Desktop. There may also be a file with the name "com.apple.imagent.plist". Move that to the Trash.

Also in the Preferences folder, there's a subfolder named "ByHost". Open it and do the same thing.

Log out and log back in. Test again. This time Messages should perform normally, but your settings will be lost. You may be able to put back some of the files you moved to the Desktop in this step. Relaunch and test after each one. Eventually you should find one or more that causes Messages to malfunction. Delete those files and recreate whatever settings they contained.

If the issue is still not resolved, quit Messages again and put all the items you moved to the Desktop back where they were. You don’t need to replace the items you moved to the Trash. Stop here and post again.

If you later decide that you don’t like the results of steps 2 and 3, you can undo them completely by quitting Messages and restoring the items you deleted in those steps from your backup.

Feb 18, 2013 12:20 PM in response to Linda Cameron

HI,


My thinking was that the most likely cause was they had the Mic Off in some way at their end


I will explain it for you and your end and you can "translate' it for them.


Messages beta will not run now in Lion as it had an end date listed in the software.

It ended on the 14th December 2012


You specs said 10.7.4 in the Original Post and in your most recent you talk about having Mountain Lion but not booting into it regularly.


After Snow Leopard there is not way to Install iChat or Messages apps by themselves. (it is the Restore process).


User uploaded file
8:20 PM Monday; February 18, 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

Feb 19, 2013 7:19 AM in response to Linda Cameron

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

The purpose of this test is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account. Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. For instructions, launch the System Preferences application, select Help from the menu bar, and enter “Set up guest users” (without the quotes) in the search box. Don't use the Safari-only "Guest User" login created by "Find My Mac."

While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your personal files or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.

Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem?

After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.

*Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault in OS X 10.7 or later, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The "Guest User" login created by "Find My Mac" is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.

Feb 19, 2013 7:51 AM in response to Linc Davis

I did a Fast user switching to the Guest account. Had to set up iChat. It first asks for my Apple ID which I put in and it comes up as iMessages but no Buddies listed in the menu. So I added an account as AIM and my brother was able to see me in his Buddies list and invited me to a video chat but once again, I could not hear him although he could hear me.

Feb 19, 2013 8:02 AM in response to Linda Cameron

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software — potentially for the worse. The following procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed. Don’t be alarmed by the complexity of these instructions — they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.


These steps are to be taken while booted in “normal” mode, not in safe mode. If you’re now running in safe mode, reboot as usual before continuing.


Below are instructions to enter some UNIX shell commands. The commands are harmless, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of the procedure suggested here, search this site for other discussions in which it’s been followed without any report of ill effects.


Some of the commands will line-wrap or scroll in your browser, but each one is really just a single line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then either copy or drag it. The headings “Step 1” and so on are not part of the commands.


Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. The other steps should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.


Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:


☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)


☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.


☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.


When you launch Terminal, a text window will open with a line already in it, ending either in a dollar sign (“$”) or a percent sign (“%”). If you get the percent sign, enter “sh” and press return. You should then get a new line ending in a dollar sign.


Step 1


Triple-click the line of text below to select it:

kextstat -kl | awk '!/com\.apple/{printf "%s %s\n", $6, $7}'

Copy (command-C) the selected text to the Clipboard. Then click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste (command-V). Post the lines of output (if any) that appear below what you just entered. You can do that by copy-and-paste as well. Omit the final line ending in “$”. No typing is involved in this step.

Step 2


Repeat with this line:

sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix)|edu\.mit|org\.(amavis|apache|cups|isc|ntp|postfix|x)/{print $3}'

This time you'll be prompted for your login password, which you do have to type. It won't be displayed when you type it. Type it carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. You don't need to post the warning. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.


Note: If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before taking this step. If that’s not possible, skip to the next step.


Step 3

launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple|edu\.mit|org\.(x|openbsd)/{print $3}'

Step 4

ls -1A /e*/mach* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,Keyb,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo,Sta}* L*/Fonts 2> /dev/null

Important: If you formerly synchronized with a MobileMe account, your me.com email address may appear in the output of the above command. If so, anonymize it before posting.


Step 5

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of every login item' 2> /dev/null

Remember, steps 1-5 are all copy-and-paste — no typing, except your password. Also remember to post the output.


You can then quit Terminal.

I cannot hear others on iChat but they can hear me

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