iChat not responding PLEASE HELP
 

I am currently using OS v.10.3.4 and have iChat 2.1. When I click the app to start, it gets stuck and does nothing at all. When I click on iChat in the dock it tells me "application not responding". I tried downloading the newest iChat AV from the apple site and when I try to install it, it tells me that it can not be installed on this machine!?

I'm not sure why this is happening but I'm hoping someone out there can help me!!!! Please!

I also get the same "application not responding" with Safari when I try typing something anywhere inside the browser. Is there a link here? :confused:

Although you haven't given enough information to make a definitive diagnosis, your first step in such a case should be to
1. Check to see if the same problem occurs in a different user on your computer. If you don't have another user, create one.
2. If the other user does NOT have the same problem, then trash or rename the corresponding prefs file. So, for iChat, rename all the files in /Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences that contain iChat in their name.

Trevor

Your on to something here
 

I just tries logging into a new user and as you predicted it works!!!! So I logged back into my main user and looked for anything that has to do with iChat in prefs and they do not exist...sounds like there's my problem. In my new user there were 2 plist files. How do I get these back? Is there a quick fis for this???

Thanks for your help in advance trevor :)

When you tested in a new user account, did you log out of your main account and then log into the new one or did you use fast user switching? If you used FUS, try logging out of your account then back in. Maybe this problem is simpler than it seems.

If that doesn't work, you can transfer the .plist files from one account to the other (in the working account, drop them in the Public folder so you can get at them from the main account).

Progress
 

I did get the working plist files (2) from the new account ( Yes I did log out) and 1 cache file and put them all in my account. It still didn't fix the problem but it did allow me to install the newest version from the apple site of iChat AV. It has never let me do that so there is progress. After installing and restarting the computer it appears to still be the old version ( the modified date has not changed). Needless to say the app still does not respond.

This is baffling... Maybe try deleting iChat completely (including the app itself and .plists) and reinstalling.

I tried that too
 

I tried that too and I wasn't able to install since apple only offers updates and not the full version of the app.

How about replacing iChat with a working copy from another machine?

that might work
 

I'd be more then happy to try but i don't have any other Macs to pull it off of. Would you be kind enough to email me a stuffed version?

Instead of copying over the working files (these are user specific, hence the reason they are created for each user), just delete the preference files out of the non-working users library folder (~/Library/Preferences/) and they will be recreated next time you try to fire up the application.


com.apple.iChat.AIM.plist
com.apple.iChat.plist

Then try and start up iChat.

I have tried that and it didn't help. I had to import those files from the working user since they never re-appeared. I'm baffled as to why it works with those exact files while logged in as User A but not as User B? Is it possible that something else in my prefs is causing a conflict?

Sure. Drop me a private message with your e-mail address.

still not working
 

Well I tried a new version of iChat that was emailed to me and still no response from iChat :(

I have a feeling that there is more to this then just the actual app.

Anyone out there have any other suggestions???

Does AOL IM client work? They use the same ports. If it doesn't you might consider that a firewall is blocking the traffic.

I don't have AOL any longer but when i installed it a few months back it worked fine. I didn't like it so i dragged it to the trash. The reason that i downloaded it in the first place was because iChat wasn't responding :p

When it comes to a firewall, it has been turned off in system prefs

And what do the logs say about this adventure?
They can all be found and accessed via the Console app in /Applications/Utilities.

Note the time that you start the iChat app and then peruse the logs (console & system) for pertinant information around that timestamp.

console
 

here's what I found in Console regarding iChat

localhost /usr/libexec/fix_prebinding: /Users/ralph/Desktop/iChat.app/Contents/MacOS/iChat could not be launched prebound.
Aug 2 13:56:02 localhost /usr/libexec/fix_prebinding: Will check and redo_prebinding on /Users/ralph/Desktop/iChat.app/Contents/MacOS/iChat
Aug 2 13:56:06 localhost /usr/libexec/fix_prebinding: 2004-08-02 13:56:06 -0400: prebinding for iChat done.
Aug 2 13:58:06 localhost /usr/libexec/fix_prebinding: fix_prebinding quitting for now.

That stuff is all normal. Hopefully there's something else after these entries?

all that i can see after that is

Couldn't reopen AddressBook database. Home directory may not be ready or is missing.

which seems to scroll endlessly.

Funny thing is I haven't tries to open the Address Book App in over a year

You can reinstall iChat (or almost anything else that came with your computer or the OS) from your Install CD using Pacifist http://www.charlessoft.com/

Also, since you seem to be having some problem with iChat creating prefs files, you may want to run Repair Permissions from Disk Utility. Also, verify that your /Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences folder has permissions drwx------ and is owned by you.

Trevor

How do I repair disks?


In Disk utility under the First Aid heading Do I just hit "repair disk permissions" or is it more complicated then that?

There are also the Erase and Restore headings. Do i need to worry about them?

What I suggested is that you repair disk permissions. To do that, just launch Disk Utility > First Aid tab > select your drive and click "Repair Disk Permissions". Don't worry about the Erase or Restore tabs unless you need to erase or restore. :-)

To "Repair Disk", which is a completely different step, boot to your OS X Install CD, select Disk Utility from the Installer pulldown menu, go to the First Aid tab, and then click "Repair Disk".

Trevor

Another solution?
 

Looking back to the same problem I had with iPhoto:
Go to iChat in your Apps folder, click once and choose "Get Info" from the "File" menu (Cmd-I). Then check under "Ownership & Permissions" the following things (see attachment). In my case "trianglejuice" is my user account name. If you're not allowed to change this things, log in as "root" (I assume that you know how to do this, otherwise it must be somewhere on "macosxhints") and try again.

Hope this'll help...

Thanks everyone
 

My permissions were already set that way. Thanks for the suggestion. I think I'm gonna give up on this one. I can't seem to figure anything out and although all your suggestions were great up until now,nothing has worked for me. I think its just time to update to a New Mac. Thanks for all the help everyone!!! :)


Which leads me to a new question:

Has anyone heard anything about a Powerbook G5 ever coming out?

Very intrigued by this problem, i did some digging in the Apple discussion forums. Seems like two people have had this issue. Let me ask you this: do you have any FireWire devices attached (external Hard drive, iSight, iPod)?

Seems like this might be part of the problem, i for one don't really understand why, so here is the last post in a very intriguing thread on the apple forums. The thread in its entirety can be found Here

Thanks for going to such lengths to try and figure this out for me. I do not have anything attached up to my firewire ports. I do have a new internal hard drive that I installed a while back. Can't tell you for sure if iChat stopped working before or after I installed it. I don't think it's a problem thaough since if i log in to a different user it works fine there.

"Have you checked Activity Monitor and looked at what iChat and iChatAgent claim they are using in the CPU stakes ? (when this happens)."
I checked it and iChat seems to go from 0% - 0.50%. There is no iChatAgent showing up here.

In terms of buddies, I have none. I never actually used iChat before but would like to start now if i can get it to work.

I hope that all this tells you something???? Thanks again for taking the time to look into this.

I'm really at a loss here. I would suggest, for the time being, to try out another IM client. Personally, I use and love Adium X. It is multi-protocol, super-customizable, and perhaps its best asset is the wonderful team of developers who are always up for suggestions -- but the program itself is still in its alpha stages.

If all you need at the moment is a good text IM app, then this is for you. However, if you need audio or video chat, then you'll have to stick to iChat (we'll have to get it to work first :p)

Other clients to try out are Proteus and Fire

Have you fiddled with fonts at all? Possibly turned off a font that iChat wants and needs?

Got a ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.iChat.Pictures problem? (Bad user pic?)

Got a FUBAR'd ~/Library/Preferences/com.aol.aim.plist? Maybe iChat is sucking bad data off of it?

Own everything in your home directory?

chown -R yourusername:yourgroup ~yourusername

I'm a Graphic Designer so i do play with hundreds of different fonts. It is possible that i did turn one or more on or off. How do I find out which one iChat needs?

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.iChat.Pictures problem? (Bad user pic?) How do I change this picture? I had to import that folder from my other user since this folder didn't even exist before.

When it comes to ~/Library/Preferences/com.aol.aim.plist, I don't have one of these.

And lastly, I do own everything in my home directory.

Just try turning them all on.

that might prove to be difficult as i have over a gig of fonts on my computer :eek:

QuickSilver?
 

This is just a stab in the dark, but are you using QuickSilver?
The thread at http://blacktree.cocoaforge.com/foru...4030fb1f680f4f indicates that sometimes a QuickSilver bug causes this kind of behavior, and it can lock up at least Mail.app.