iChat on two week old MBP says “This computer does not support video chats."

[devburke]

So I just noticed that the video icon in iChat only shows the audio chat option, and in the preferences, I get this:



My iSight works fine in Photo Booth. I’m on a new 13” MBP purchased 4/16.

 

[MrCheeto]

I suspect it has something to do with that "Chax" option. Care to explain it? Can you take a screenshot of its menu?

Here's what that window SHOULD look like on a MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard.

 

[devburke]

I suspect it has something to do with that "Chax" option. Care to explain it? Can you take a screenshot of its menu?

Here's what that window SHOULD look like on a MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard.

Sure thing! [URL="http://www.ksuther.com/chax/“]Chax[/URL] is an awesome iChat plug-in that brings a bunch of little features to iChat to make it better all around, like Growl notifications and a unified contacts window. I’ve been using it for years and it’s never affected my ability to have video chats. I haven’t updated it recently or anything.

 

[MrCheeto]

Yeah, that looks like it would have nothing to do with this MacBook Pro's shyness.

Log into another account (Guest account) and try there.

 

[devburke]

It worked on the guest account. Maybe it is Chax? Maybe I’ll try temporarily uninstalling it and seeing if that fixes anything.

 

[MrCheeto]

OK, but I more suspect preferences or another permissions. If uninstalling it doesn't help, repair permissions. If that's a no go, move iChat preferences to your desktop. If that doesn't work, you can put your preferences back to the Preferences folder so you don't have to reset them all

 

[devburke]

It worked on the guest account. Maybe it is Chax? Maybe I’ll try temporarily uninstalling it and seeing if that fixes anything.

For the record, that didn’t fix it.

 

[devburke]

Trashing iChat’s plist file worked. However, I’d rather not have to redo my settings, so I restored it. Is there some way I could fix this without redoing it all? If not, redoing everything wouldn’t be all that bad I guess.

EDIT: Just saw your post. Yeah I’ve repaired permissions, that didn’t do it. I guess I’ll have to go with the plist.

 

[MrCheeto]

Check the permission of your Plist file. It should say you have the right to read and write.

If that little permissions fix doesn't do it, you're going to have to rebuild. Sorry, but a corrupt plist was a best-case scenario so...yeah.

 

[devburke]

Yep looks like I’ll have to rebuild my preferences. Oh well! Thanks, I appreciate it!

 

[MrCheeto]

At least it works, right?

It likely has something to do with a preference that was carried over from you last mac, but no longer works on the new OS and hardware.

What was your old Mac and OS?

 

[devburke]

Nah, it wouldn’t have been that. I like to start fresh on a new computer. I’ll still set it up the same, but I do it by hand instead of just migrating all the stuff over. Something just feels clean about that. Partly cuz of things like you mentioned can happen .

My old Mac was a mid-2007 white MacBook though, running a clean-installed Snow Leopard. Man that thing still ran great though, I couldn’t believe I still got hours of battery life after putting it through hundreds of cycles! Too bad the screen got a huge crack.

 

[MrCheeto]

Hahaha! I just replaced the screen in a black 2007 MacBook and installed a copy of Snow Leopard. (I can't believe the guy paid me to install his software, when all it took was a few clicks...but hey...)

It ran great with the 2gb it had, even with the GMA 950

Want me to fix that screen if you're too timid? Haha.

 

[devburke]

Isn’t the screen really expensive to replace? Like it wasn’t just a crack, half the screen was filled up with black and blue funky pixellation following along the cracks.

 

[MrCheeto]

Not really. About $130 buys a new screen. You can install it IF you know what you're doing, but I can't tell you the number of people that have brought their Macs to me with only 1/3rd of the screws and plugs ripped right off the motherboard.

Find somebody in your town that you trust to do it for cheap. As much business as I catch I usually charge $25 per-screen, I've soaked up ALL the Mac-business in town! If you could supply a screen, I'd do it just as a favor to you

 

[devburke]

Damn! When I took it in just to make sure AppleCare wasn’t gonna cover it, they said it’s s really expensive part and with labor would cost around…I think it was $700 to fix, and at that point most people just buy new computers. I decided to just stick it out for like 5 months after that, but still. Oh well, it’s always nice to have a new one.

 

[MrCheeto]

LUL, well sell it to cover the costs of the new one. With Applecare on that thing, it should go for more!

Good Luck!

 

[devburke]

Eh I don’t know who’s gonna pay very much for it the way it is. AppleCare runs out in like 3 months too. Maybe if the screen can be repaired though! It might be awhile before I can get that done. Long story, but I’m not in one place for very long this year and I’m real busy all the time. I’m up by Seattle now and my old MacBook’s down in Sacramento. I’ll see what I can do in the fall when I’m more settled down.