Why does my AIM keep disconnecting in iChat? (MacOSv10.7.5 iChatv6.0.2)

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Why does my AIM keep disconnecting in iChat? (MacOSv10.7.5 iChatv6.0.2)

I have recently updated to Mac OS Lion now at 10.7.5 & cannot upgrade to Mavericks as my machine is just under the requirements. Ever since I have made this upgrade, my AIM accounts on iChat have been logging themselves out in about under 5 minutes. I log them back in, but then same things happpen. To note, my GCHAT & JABBER accounts stay logged in without problem.

How do I stop this from happening? I have read may of the previous reported issue & the results I have found instructions to delete the preference files com.apple.ichat.AIM.plist & com.apple.iChat.plist which i have done several times (deleting them before quitting & deleting after quit) but to no avail.

My server setting for both accounts is..

Server: login.oscar.aol.com

Port: 5190

This did not use to happen to me before the LION upgrade. I also use to have CHAX installed, but I have uninstalled it as I know it no longer works with 10.7 & above.

Any trick here that I am missing?

Posted on Dec 10, 2013 12:29 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 10, 2013 12:49 PM in response to phantomp15

Hi,

If Chax has been removed and then the com.apple.ichat.plist removed any references the Add-on had will have also been removed.

You do not say if SSL is employed although the server name suggests not.

The regular server you list has seemed to be more stable in the past than the SSL server (it will change the server name automatically - it add a Leading l).

This is partly as the NON SSL server allows reconnects automatically where as the SSL ones need a Manual reset in iChat.

Try using the port 443 instead.

8:49 pm Tuesday; December 10, 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

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Answer 2

phantomp15 Author

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Dec 10, 2013 1:19 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Thanks for responding Ralph as you seem to be the expert on here.

I was not using SSL but I did just try using SSL to see if I would have any futher luck, but nope.

I also tried your suggestion of port 443, but still no luck. 😟

Each account that gets logged out has a little lightning bolt by it when it gets logged out. When I click it I get the following error message...

"iChat lost the connection to the AIM account....the server connection was unexpectedly lost."

So still trying to figure this out 😕

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Answer 3

Dec 10, 2013 1:38 PM in response to phantomp15

Hi,

If this is an @mac.com name or an AIM registered name then try to Login here https://settings.aim.com/

If that works, can you go to Applications/Utilities and launch the Console app ?

Has this got any alert messages that list the iChat app ?

Also are you WiFi or Ethernet ?

I have found in the past on my MacBook Pro that it was more susceptible on the AIM Logins if the WiFi dropped out even for a moment.

iChat is an Always On app and more prone to "seeing" internet drops when they happen.

The time it takes AIM account to say they have lost contact is shorter than Jabber accounts.

Apps like a Browser only contact the internet when you change page.

Small in time drops are rarely noticed.

Same for the Mail App.

9:38 pm Tuesday; December 10, 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

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Answer 4

phantomp15 Author

Level 1

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Dec 10, 2013 5:03 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

It is an AIM registered name & I can login to https://settings.aim.com/ without any problem.

I am connected via Ethernet to a pretty high powered network. It is possible that there is something with the network that I am on that I need to convince our IT to fix, but I have never had this issue before Lion. One other thing that occured right around the same time as my upgrade to Lion, was that my IT director put me on an isolated guest network, but I dont think that is the issue. I have a new laptop running Mavericks that I can try to keep connected to the same network & perhaps isolate the issue to just this machine with Lion.

I did go to the console app, where I saw I long list of errors being caused by an out of date version of Little Snitch. Once I saw that I was pretty sure that must have been the culprit. However, I have now updated to a compatible version of Little Snitch, but the disconnect issue is still occuring.

The most I can find on console regarding iChat is this

12/10/13 5:00:48.361 PM imagent: [Warning] [AIM] Could not change my statusURL to

I am staying logged on for approximately 10 minutes before I am kicked off.

Thanks for your continued support.

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Answer 5

Dec 11, 2013 11:54 AM in response to phantomp15

HI,

I have Little Snitch to show me the pop ups to Allow the items for Messages (and previously iChat) when it launches.

I believe you can set different option other than Allow Forever and Until Quit.

The drop down shows me this:-

I thinks that the Until Logout is you as the Mac User login rather than the Apps login to AIM.

I have not tried using it this way.

The "Once" item at the bottom might give clearer idea if you had to allow it each time it logged in.

I am not quite sure what the Console messages is about.

The URL would most likely be the IP address that you computer is at.

About ten minutes might be Idle time if you are not using the Keyboard or Mouse at all.

Of course this message may have nothing to do with the Network dropping out.

Something that happens regularly such as fetching Mail might be the cause.

7:54 pm Wednesday; December 11, 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

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Answer 6

phantomp15 Author

Level 1

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Dec 11, 2013 12:22 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Ralph,

I have finally figured it out!! After bringing in my laptop today running Mavericks & noticing the same knock off occuring, I pushed on my IT guy who finally checked the firewall & opened it up a bit more. Now I have been connected longer than I have in the last two weeks! So the culprit was this new network I was put on. Go figure.

Thanks so much for your help here. I guess if you see this issue again, another culprit could be the firewall restrictions. However, I don't know exactly what my IT Director did, but it fixed it.. hooray!

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Answer 7

Dec 11, 2013 12:59 PM in response to phantomp15

Good to hear.

Whilst not exactly a firewall some routers can use UPnP to allow ports to be open.

On some router you have access to how many "hops" are allowed (the number of devices that the data in allowed to go though to get to the computer) and the time after it was last used that the port remains open.

Most have a 4 hop and 30 mins default settings.

I have my own set to 2 hops and 15 mins.

I am sure you could have firewall that is also time limited in some respects.

8:59 pm Wednesday; December 11, 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

Reply