Messages wedged, identityservicesd, callservicesd repeatedly crashing

Hi,

Exactly what User data did you move ?

You cannot bring "back" the ~/Library/Messages contents as it was updated for High Sierra.

While I am less familiar with other apps I would the same imagine the same is true there.

You would be better off using a Time Machine or other back up to Restore Sierra version files.

Since iChat 3 it has been the case that the app will only work in the OS that it has been made for.

There has only been one exception ans that was iChat 3.1 where it replaced the Video format for AIM and Bonjour due to a backbone issue with the Eastern United States.

That does not mean iChat and then Messages gets up dated with every OS update (such as OS X 10.1 to OS X 10.8.2) but when it does then the previous version of iChat or Messages will not work.

The issue with Message though is that the app version number never contain sub-number after version 7.1 (which was at the OS X 10.8.2 update) which is where the Serial Number is needed to login.

Include in that the fact that there were two versions 8s in Mavericks an Yosemite and all the little tweaks in-between are not documented with version number changes.

You may be too far gone for full recovery.

I would do a fresh install of Sierra and use a Sierra Back up. That way things will match even if you lose some iMessages form the upgrade time until the time you sort this.

9:29 pm Saturday; October 7, 2017

Hi,

You may also find you have to re-do Ownership on the moved files.

8:14 pm Sunday; October 8, 2017

Hi,

Never a waste of time.

I have also made things different and not where I had thought I would end up by forgetting the little things or not considering all the possibles.

8:33 pm Sunday; October 8, 2017

Might be a corrupt .plist.

Do a backup, preferably 2 backups on 2 separate drives.

Quit the application.

Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J. When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Select Library. Then go to Preferences/com.apple.iChat.plist. Move the .plist to your desktop.

Restart the computer, open the application and test. If it works okay, delete the plist from the desktop.

If the application is the same, return the .plist to where you got it from, overwriting the newer one.

If that doesn’t work, repeat the above but delete the com.apple.imagent.plist.

Thanks to leonie and Ralph Johns (UK)for some information contained in this.