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Unable to change iMessage settings

Having a slight issue with imessage, after updating to mavericks i am unable to get the message status in my menu bar. when i go to the settings the option is checked but i am unable to change this, also unable to change my status to online. can nyone help me on this?? User uploaded file

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 29, 2013 4:03 AM

Reply
18 replies

Oct 31, 2013 3:45 PM in response to S.madd

Hi,


Greyed out parts of the Preferences like that normally mean your Mac User Account is subject to Parent Controls.


If it is not then Use the Finder > GO Menu whilst holding the ALT key down.

Select the Library that appears

Navigate to Preferences

Find com.apple.ichat.plist and it drag to the Trash


Restart Messages



User uploaded file
10:45 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

Nov 2, 2013 12:44 PM in response to S.madd

Hi,


That is odd.


However many of the items in that section that is greyed out are more specific to Buddy Lists than some of the other settings.


Do you have a Buddy list on show at all ?

If you only have the iMessages and Bonjour account in the Accounts list then Enable the Bonjur account and use the Window Menu to display it.




User uploaded file
7:44 pm Saturday; November 2, 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

Jan 16, 2014 12:02 PM in response to Antonbob

Hi,


If the Mac version is not working properly then it will hav difficulty in linking to an iPhone or other iOS device.


Just to be clear.

I turned Off (unticked the "Enable this Account" box) on all of my Buddy list accounts.

At this point with not Buddy lists (AIM, Jabber, Yahoo and Bonjour) logged in the center section of the General Pane of the Preferences went greyed out.


Window Menu and General Pane together (No "Buddies" in the Menu)

User uploaded file


My Window Menu would normally look like this:-

User uploaded file

As I have unticked the "Show All Accounts in one List"


Most of the Menu items and the item in that Preferences Pane that refer to "Status" are talking about the Buddy Lists accounts.


The actual iMessages account shows no Status at all.



User uploaded file

8:02 pm Thursday; January 16, 2014


 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

Jan 16, 2014 12:24 PM in response to S.madd

Thanks for the reply!

I played around with your proposed settings a bit and so far I figured out that Bonjour need to be enabled

in order to acces the status bar. iMessage is the only service I'm actually using by the way.


Discoverd some odd behaviour of the Messages app:

— Preferences pane only shows up 1 times out of 5, it somehow stays unresponsive when trying to activate it

— Messages window (command 0) is stuck on an older conversation of mine (last message: oktober 2013)

— There is no sign of older conversations in this window and the contact list (like on the left in this screenhot) is gone? Ther is only one older conversation in this window. Starting a new one is possible and works but the defaukt is this older one.

User uploaded file

All of this used to work great with iOS 6 and Mountain Lion, could this be realted to iOS 7 or Mavericks?

Are there any prefs I can restore or delete?

Jan 16, 2014 12:31 PM in response to Antonbob

Hi,


You mean you have a window like this ?

User uploaded file

This can be created within the app as a normal function by double clicking any open Chat in the list on the left.

The Main window can then be "hidden" by using the red button.

The app will also remember this over each subsequent launch.


However it also appears as a Fault symptom when using the CMD +0 does not bring back the normal Messages main window.


As you also have a problem accessing the Preferences it seems that the .plist is likely to be at fault.


Open a Finder window.
Use the Go Menu whilst holding down the ALT key

Select the Library that appears in the menu.

Navigate to Preferences

Find com.apple.ichat.plist

Drag it to the Trash.


Restart Messages.





User uploaded file

8:31 pm Thursday; January 16, 2014


 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

Jan 16, 2014 1:26 PM in response to Antonbob

Hi,


This should be "cured" without having to be that drastic.


I did indicate I understood it was a symptom of a fault.

However it also appears as a Fault symptom when using the CMD +0 does not bring back the normal Messages main window.


As Messages is Sandboxed now try the following.

Access the Library the same way.

Navigate to Containers/com.apple.soagent/Data/Library/Preferences

You will notice that some of these are Aliases that point to the items in the Preferences folder itself.

However some of them exist only in this folder.


Drag the com.apple.messageshelper.MessageController.plist and com.apple.soagent.plist itself to the Trash and restart the Mac before launching Messages again.





User uploaded file

9:26 pm Thursday; January 16, 2014


 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

Jul 1, 2014 9:36 AM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Ralph,


My macbook and iMessage is doing the same thing. When I open iMessage the preferences and status are grayed out. I dumped the com.apple.ichat.plist and restarted iMessages and they were still grayed out.


I then went and dumped the com.apple.messageshelper.MessageController.plist and com.apple.soagent.plist and restarted the computer and the options are still grayed out.


iMessage used to work fine on this laptop and I cannot figure out what is causing this. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Jul 1, 2014 11:26 AM in response to rquack46

Hi,


The access to the Preferences is key.

The Status items does nothing for a Messages app that only has an iMessages account (with the Bonjour one disabled)


Shut down the Computer and restart in Safe Boot

you should be able to access your usual Mac User Account.

Does Messages work in the Safe Boot ?



User uploaded file

7:26 pm Tuesday; July 1, 2014


 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 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

Jul 10, 2014 1:42 PM in response to rquack46

Hi rquack,


New Info.


It seems the Access to certain Menus in Messages is "blocked" if the Font "Apple Gothic" is missing.

It is only used in the "registration" process of the iMessages account (it "checks" this every time you start up the App so even if previously registered it makes out like it is going to do so again and needs the Font at every start up.


See Re: OS X Messages (8.0) window stays blank after start.

User uploaded file

9:41 pm Thursday; July 10, 2014


 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 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

Unable to change iMessage settings

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