iMessage - iChat bonjour chat problem

Hi,

Just to be clear.

The app is Messages once you get to Mountain Lion or above and one of the accounts it can do is iMessages.

(The app on the iPhone is also called Messages and can send and Received iMessages as well as SMS).

That said on a LAN with iChat and Messages capable machines Bonjour is the way to go.

That said an iMessages account in Messages cannot connect to a Bonjour account in iChat.

I have a Leopard (iChat 4) and a Snow Leopard (iChat 5) and a Mavericks (Messages 8) computer.

Bonjour as text chats works between all of them.

I do have however, an issue myself sending files to and from the Messages 8 and iChat 5 computers and nothing I have tried has resolved this.

I do not have another OS X 10.9 machine to compare Messages 8 to Messages 8 with.

Idle is Messages and iChat is a specific thing.

It is the time after the last Keyboard or Mouse input which then changes the Status from Available to Idle (it also changes the Away to Away-Idle as well but iChat and Messages do not display this).

Nominally the Status change is at the 10 minute mark.

This is separate from any Energy Saving settings in the System Preferences or the times set for a Screen Saver to kick in which can be different again.

Could you go into more detail about what you actually mean by idle ?

7:43 pm Friday; May 23, 2014

Hi,

The AIM account can be set to Invisible.

The Bonjour one cannot

My understanding is that one some Laptops you can set Application sleep, as I think it is called, to save power when using the battery.

My iPhoto version has a tick box to prevent it in the Info Panel

But Messages does not

I am not sure if the app has to be capable (i.e. there is an Off option) before it takes effect.

My iPhoto has it as I said but I have a iMac which does not run on battery power.

It would appear that Messages cannot be excluded if it effects all apps - but I don't think it does.

The upshot of that is that Messages cannot be going Idle on it's own just because it is in the background.

The "disappearance" of you in other people's Buddy lists seems more to do with losing the network than a setting.

Ask them if you also go missing from the Finder's side bar as a Bonjour Share.

7:42 pm Monday; May 26, 2014

Maybe not the same problem as my inability to connect to the internet on waking the computer, but this too seems to be to do with Bonjour. If I disconnect my AppleTV or quit iTunes, I have no problem.

Hi,

Often a problem can change once we have more info.

Like this one what seems like a Bonjour In Messages and iChat turns out to be an issue with you staying On line.

Are you connected to the LAN via Wifi ?

If so do this:-

In System Preferences> Network > WiFi make sure the option to show the Menu Bar icon for Airport is active.

Now right click and hold the Menu in the menu bar.

Select the Network Diagnostics that appears by doing this.

(Using the ALT whilst trying to grab a Screen Shot also show other details but you wnat the bottom item)

After a dialogue asking for your Mac User Login Password you see this fisrt screen

Press continue (it will take a few minutes).

Make sure the Monitor option is selected and minimise the item to the DOCK.

If there are breaks in the connection to the LAN this will tell you.

Obviously you may have to wait some time for this to happen.

In the mean time check every computer has a different name in System Preferences > Sharing.

Follow that by checking the Contacts App/Address Book and that all have different info in the My Card.

7:41 pm Wednesday; May 28, 2014

Hi,

Bonjour (or mDNS as it show in the Activity Monitor) is linked to the DNS actions of your computer.

At OS X 10.6 Apple made a closed link between the action of DNS and Bonjour.

effectively what had been an ON/Off mechanism in Directory Utility (no longer exists) was done away with in favour or changing a .plist

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3789

However as you have Bonjour when you turn some things Off it suggests that either the Apple TV and a computer are trying to use the Same IP or there is something about the Name of each that is causing the issue.

8:01 pm Wednesday; May 28, 2014

Thanks Ralph, My problem is getting an internet connection on wake up first thing in the morning. It can be solved by disconnecting the AppleTV.

I checked the IP and MAC addresses on the router webpage and they seem discrete and ok. The computer name has not changed and the AppleTV has no name.

I took a package trace and pinged the router during these periods. The pings go out ok but the computer never gets a reply. I have also used wifi diagnostics and scanned the local environment, but think posting the results here may be a security risk.

For academic interest, the commands were as follows:

1. netstat -nralW for the routing table dump

2.packet capture if the above output outgoing interface is en0.

sudo tcpdump -i en0 -w ~/Desktop/tcpdump.pcap "arp || icmp"

3. To ping to the gateway IP address: ping 192.168.1.254

4. To kill the processes, Cmd + period

The only thing I see in the Share section of Finder is the router. Should I not see the AppleTV as well?

Hi,

The Apple TV might not show up if it is not Named.

Or it may only show up as an icon in the Shares section of the Finder's Side Bar.

If Stealth is on in the Mac Firewall (If that is On) then you will not see Pings.

Messages will also not do Video, Audio Only or Screen Sharing in AIM and Jabber accounts.

FaceTime may also not connect.

Also check the router is allowing responses to Pings.

9:32 pm Wednesday; May 28, 2014

Thanks, The pings are normally fine, just not first thing in the morning. I will turn off Stealth mode and see what happens.

My apologies to the OP for the digression.