iMessages suddenly borked:- can't see network

for the Points

7:45 PM Wednesday; August 14, 2013

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.4)
 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

Mr. Davis,

Thank you very much for your detailed list. Judging from the date of your post I am uncertain if your instructions relate to Mountain Lion or Mavericks. In my case I am experiencing problems after upgrading to Mavericks.

I have run through the steps which you have suggested as far as Step 7 – logging in under a guest account. I find that the guest account will give me the initial activation screen for the Messages app and from there it will recognize my AppleID and associated e-mails, allowing me to login normally.

However, once I log out of the guest account and back into my regular user account (Admin account) I am back to the same error message – Could not sign in. Please check your network connection and try again.

Sorry if I missed what one is supposed to do once the login actually works from the guest account. Obviously, the guest and admin accounts are running on the same network, dns, etc.

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

Terry

Hi,

Linc Davis' tips from the 13th Agust 2013 will work for Messages in Mountain Lion and Mavericks.

They also can be applied to iChat in earlier OS versions.

If the App works in Guest Mode or even in a different Mac User Account then the issue moves to the .plists that hold info about the app's use for your Mac User Account.

Quit Messages if Open.

Make the Finder the "front" app listed in the Menu Bar

Use the GO Menu and Hold down the ALT Key to reveal the Library choice.

Select this and navigate to the Preferences Folder.

Find the two .plists with the word imessage in them (com.apple.imessages.bag.plist and com.apple.imservices.imessage.plist) and drag them to the Trash.

Restart Messages.

You are likely to have to re-enter the Apple ID info.

7:54 pm Monday; October 28, 2013

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 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

Ralph,

Thanks for your reply. I followed your instructions, went into the library, and deleted the relevant preferences. Now when I fire up Messages I get to the login screen one would expect to see when first setting up a new account or computer. When I enter my AppleID details the login attempts to start and then just spins. I let it go on spinning for half an hour and then shut it down. I'm not sure where to go from here. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Terry

p.s. I suppose it is worth mentioning that both Messages and Facetime are working on iOS 7. Likewise, I have no trouble using my AppleID for iTunes, App Store, etc. Everything is working except Messages and Facetime on Mavericks.

Hi,

I should have said that deleting the two .plists will get the iMessages account to start again possibly at the Start up Screen if it is the only active account (The Bonjour one is always there and you can't delete it).

Can you confirm that at Linc's step 3 you saw the Mac's Serial Number ?

If you did can you open Keychain Access (Applications/Utilities).

In the menu for Keychain Acess use the Keychain First Aid option and check if there are any issues.

If there is not then delete the IDS your Apple ID-Auth Token item.

Restart Messages.

Step 7 would be useful to know as well.

Either use the Guest account or create a test Mac User Account in System Preferences > User and Groups

Set up Messages with the same details you use in your regular account.

9:14 pm Tuesday; October 29, 2013

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 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

Ralph,

First off, thank you again for all of your help.

"Can you confirm that at Linc's step 3 you saw the Mac's Serial Number ?"

Correct, I ran through that step and my serial number seems to be fine.

"If you did can you open Keychain Access (Applications/Utilities).

In the menu for Keychain Acess use the Keychain First Aid option and check if there are any issues."

I ran this step as well. Keychain First Aid returned two errors and I went ahead and repaired them. Following that I tried to login to Messages and Facetime, again with no result (just spinning).

If there is not then delete the IDS your Apple ID-Auth Token item.

Restart Messages.

I went ahead and followed this step. Messages then allowed me to go through the registration in what appeared to be a normal fashion. The preferences pane shows my proper AppleID and the e-mail addresses that are registered to Messages and Facetime (I don't have any phone numbers registered).

At this point I thought I was logged into Messages. However, when I tried to start send a message to one of my contacts it seems to just sit there in my conversation window. I get neither an error message nor a delivered message. I can confirm that my contact doesn't receive the message and the message does not appear on my iOS 7 device, where I have an open (and working) conversation with the same contact. All of the registration data on iOS 7 is identical and working fine.

If I look at the menu bar at the top of my Mac screen under the Messages drop down menu I notice that the Login ⌘L is greyed out. Likewise, the My Status submenu under the Messages drop down menu is entirely greyed out and shows ✓ Offline. That leads me to believe that I am offline for some reason, but I cannot see anyway to go online.

Step 7 would be useful to know as well.

Either use the Guest account or create a test Mac User Account in System Preferences > User and Groups

Set up Messages with the same details you use in your regular account.

I ran this step both from a guest account and from a newly set up Mac User Account. In both cases I got as far as successful registration. I did not try to originate any conversations from messages, however, because I was worried that I might create some problems in iOS 7 where things are all working OK.

Thank you again for you assistance, I am immensely grateful.

Cheers,

Terry

HI,

Unfortunately this current state of the appearance of being Logged in but not being able to send Messages is becoming a little too common in the Mavericks > iMessage and Messages category.

Some are seeing the ellipses (the ...) when people start typing a Message but they never see the actual message itself.

Can you try the View Menu > Messages and change the Style from Balloons to either of the other two ?

Regarding this bit:-

If I look at the menu bar at the top of my Mac screen under the Messages drop down menu I notice that the Login ⌘L is greyed out. Likewise, the My Status submenu under the Messages drop down menu is entirely greyed out and shows ✓ Offline. That leads me to believe that I am offline for some reason, but I cannot see anyway to go online.

The Login ⌘L should be greyed out if all the account you have are logged in.

This item used to Say "Accounts" and have a side/pop out panel that listed all the accounts which you could select to Log in or Log out (Tick or Untick).

It seems you can only do this in the Messages > Preferences > Accounts and Disabling an Account rather than the Messages menu itself.

The Stratus item is a hangover from iChat and being Available or Away in AIM and Jabber account (Later Yahoo from iChat 6 onwards).

The Bonjour Account if Enabled will also change this Status setting.

The Drop down this shows is the same one from the Menu Bar iCon if you display it or the Status Messages spot in any Buddy List

Buddy list version

If you only have an iMessages account you cannot see if you are On Line - nor can you see if an iPhone is On line or any of your Contacts.

Therefore the Status item does not report anything.

8:20 pm Wednesday; October 30, 2013

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 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

Gack,

I give up. The only thing I can think of to do is create a new user account and migrate to that account once everything is working. This has been extremely frustrating.

Thanks again for your help Ralph.

Understood.

8:48 pm Thursday; October 31, 2013

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 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