Google Talk and Jabber account won't connect when Messages is first launched

Hi,

If forcing the IMAgent item to Quit in the Activity Monitor seems to temporarily sort the issue try deleting the com.apple.imagent.plist

In the Finder use the Go Menu whilst holding down the ALT key.

Select the Library that then appears in the menu list.

Navigate to Preferences.

Find the .plist and drag it to the Trash.

Restart the computer as the IMAgent starts up when the Mac does.

This will recreate the .plist and should eliminate any issue with it.

9:33 pm Tuesday; March 3, 2015

HI Ralph!

I am having the same problem. I deleted the IMAgent .plist and my Messages are still not working. The status is in a constant state of "Connecting...".

Any other troubleshooting tips would be great as after a few days of this not working, I feel like I am going crazy.

Many thanks,

Jennifer

hi,

In that case try deleting com.apple.iChat.Jabber.plist as this hods the Server info and other Account info for all your Jabber Logins (Facebook Chat in Messages, GoogleTalk IDs as well as other jabber IDs).

You will need to restart the App only after this one.

8:44 pm Thursday; March 5, 2015

Thanks Ralph! Still not working. I deleted all the ichat.plists and even after restarting my computer, Messages is a perpetual state of Connecting or Disconnected with an triangle ! error icon.

Any other steps I should take to try to resolve this?

Many thanks for your help!

Jennifer

Hi,

At your Google Login via Web Browser choose the Account option top right (Or at least it is where I use the Web Mail Login)

In here chose the Security options.

Is Two Step Verification in use (it will not work in Messages for some reason) ?

Also is Allow Less Secure Apps Enabled ?

Messages uses SSL to login and a Google have deemed this not secure enough so your have to enable this to allow GoogleTalk in Messages to login.

I have also found that in Messages > Preferences > Accounts and the Google Account that I can use port 443 to Login (you have to Disable the account in the Account info tab first) but you still have to use SSL.

Other Jabber accounts tend to be either SSL server and default to port 5223 when you set this or non SSL ones that default to 5222.

On the Jabber servers I have used have not allowed other ports to be used.

It is strange this is effecting only Jabber based accounts.

9:37 pm Friday; March 6, 2015

I turned off 2-step verification. And allowed less secure apps. I changed the ports. And nothing worked. I have since deleted the account from my computer and brought it back in. Nothing is working.

The funny thing is, I have two other computers which are all working fine! No issues with the same jabber account.

It might be unrelated (or maybe not!) but now I am also having a problem syncing my iCloud Notes on this computer.

Is there some way to check the computer's activity to locate where these errors are occurring?

Many thanks for your continued help!

Jennifer

Hi,

In Applications/Utilities there is the Console App.

It does provide and running list or activity that is happening.

It also has places it store logs of when App Crash or Hang.

Whilst it does have some plain English in the Logs it can also be quite cryptic as to where stuff is having an issue.

For Messages I would go to ~/Library/Preferences and delete (move to Trash) the com.apple.iChat.Jabber.plist

To Access this Library which is hidden, hold down the ALT key whilst Using the Go Menu in the Finder app.

The select the Library that appears and Navigate to the the Preferences folder.

For the Notes.

I take it the item is Enabled in System Preferences > iCloud ?

7:26 pm Monday; March 9, 2015

Hi Ralph,

Still no dice on both problems. The one new piece of evidence I can share is a message I received on Messages yesterday when I tried to re-add my gmail account: "Messages can't communicate with the Google Talk account "Gmail". Could not connect to host xmpp.l.google.com"

Can this bit of information help solve the problem?

Many thanks,

Jennifer

I'm having the exact same problem as kodachrome35. I'm using 10.10.3. I haven't been able to test out changing the server settings, however, because it's always greyed out (no matter if I'm logged out, disabled account, etc). This is a super annoying issue.

I just tried again (after not changing anything) and saw the following warning: "Non-secure Jabber Login Your user name and password will be sent in a way that is not secure. Do you still wish to connect to xmpp.l.google.com?"

I said ok and it worked! Fingers crossed it keeps working.

Hi,

Yes.

My Google account logs in into talk.google.com and uses my GoogleMail ID.

That is to say I have never updated to Google+ or Hangouts and was using GoogleTalk since iChat 3.

This uses the Google ID as it appears on the Google mail web page.

You need to be clear as to whether yours ends "@googlemail.com" or "@GMail.com" as they are different when logging in to the Google talk server.

It is for this reason that Google use a different server name and therefore Jabber ID compared to how you arrive at them on other servers.

I have heard of the server you list but have not tried it.

Is it the one listed in your Google Account in Messages in the server settings tab ?

8:10 pm Wednesday; March 11, 2015

Hi,

Where is it greyed out ?

If you are in Messages > Preferences > Accounts > Google Account > Server settings tab then the account is Logged In and you have to Untick the "Enable this Account box" in the Account info tab before you can change the port, SSL or Server name.

Messages uses SSL for the Google Jabber login.

(I have not seen it not use this)

I have used port 443 in the past for the talk.google.com server that has been used since iChat 3 for GoogleTalk.

More recently Google have decided that SSL is not as secure as they would like and you have to Enable the "Less Secure Apps" option on your Google Account > Security settings.

I have not used 2 step Verification set on the same section but reports do seem to be mixed and for a long time I have said don't use it. ( I am forming the opinion people may not be using the "right" password when they use this method.).

8:16 pm Wednesday; March 11, 2015

It just is. Here is the screenshots. It looks like this whether I enable the account or not. Logged in or not.

Also, I think these are the error messages in console that I get when I try to log in...

Checking as a post is not visible.

EDIT.

I can see it now.

That Jabber account is Logged in.

In the Window menu use the option/keystrokes to reveal either Buddies (CMD+1) Buddy list combined or the CMD+# for the Jabber account involved in it's own window.

In Preferences > General Section there is a Line about showing all the Buddy Lists in one list.

Untick this to show them as separate items.

Tell me what the wording is under your name in the Buddy list please ?

8:31 pm Thursday; March 12, 2015

Hi,

A single Buddy list that is Logged in will look a bit like this

Yours will show you the On line Buddies at least (I have hidden mine rather then pixelate the Pic)

This Buddy List is Not Logged in.

It says Off Line (It can says other things)

It has an icon indicating a Problem, particularly if you click the word "Off Line" and try to select Available.

Your choices in doing this are the same as the Messages Menu > Status item

The My Status info ONLY refers to the Buddy Lists. The default is that they all adopt the same Status but it can be different if you use the Buddy List option.

As I have 10 or so Accounts (In Addition to the iMessages one) my Window Menu looks like this:-

These partially appear when separated like this in the Main window

8:43 pm Thursday; March 12, 2015