iChat problems with Bonjour

[bowenjt]

We have one user who cannot send outgoing iChat messages through Bonjour. If he adds the person to his buddy list, he can IM anyone with no problem. The problem basically extends because if someone were to IM him through Bonjour, he can see incoming messages, but those people can never see anything he types in response. Any ideas?

 

[roblef]

We have one user who cannot send outgoing iChat messages through Bonjour. If he adds the person to his buddy list, he can IM anyone with no problem. The problem basically extends because if someone were to IM him through Bonjour, he can see incoming messages, but those people can never see anything he types in response. Any ideas?

I'm having a similar problem. Anyone figure this out? Basically, the user can not start a conversation via Bonjour, but can with AIM chat. She also CAN respond to messages sent to her Bonjour account.

Weird.

 

[ablemac]

Similar, but worse symptom

We have one user who cannot send outgoing iChat messages through Bonjour. If he adds the person to his buddy list, he can IM anyone with no problem. The problem basically extends because if someone were to IM him through Bonjour, he can see incoming messages, but those people can never see anything he types in response. Any ideas?

I have 3 macs on an Airport Extreme network. Two running Leopard 10.5.5 and one running Tiger 10.4.11 (old iMac doesn't support Leopard). My leopard 17" MBP can't see anyone in Bonjour and no one sees me in their bonjour.

Works fine if I log in as another user, so I removed the /Users/<username>/Library/Preferences files that were like com.apple.ichat... {all the ones with ichat in their name} while ichat was quit {and set to not be in the menu bar}. I setup iChat from scratch, but it still didn't work in my user account. MobileMe, .Mac, and Gmail (jabber) work perfectly with video, audio, and text all work fine in all 3, just no users listed in bonjour in my main login account.

I mention all this to give ideas for others to trouble shoot similar issues.

Biggest trouble shooting step is to open System Preferences / Accounts, add a new account by clicking the + in the bottom left, then log in as that user and setup ichat to see if your problem is software related, or if it's a problem with the primary computer account (usually a preference file). If it doesn't work in a fresh user account, it's likely to be a network issue not related to the computer itself.

 

[katwp]

iChat trouble: can IM but not Bonjour

Hello, has anyone found a solution to this? I am under a similar situation: I have an iMac 24" running Leopard 10.5.4. At our small business there are several other iMac G4, iMac G5 and iBook G4 all running Tiger 10.4.11. I use iChat's Bonjour intensively to communicate and exchange files with the rest of the team. Suddenly the following problem started: no Tiger user is able to Bonjour me, unless I send a message to him/her first. They can see me, but if they try to message me all they get is the following error:

"Instant Message connection failed. The other person’s computer may be unreachable."

So, in short, no Tiger users can initiate a Bonjour chat with me (running Leopard). I must initiate the chat myself for it to work. They can always AIM me, but it doesn't help much because it's excruciatingly slow to exchange files. Furthermore, when I am busy I stay offline in AIM while active in Bonjour, so only team members can contact me.

I have tried the following, unsuccessfully:
- Repair permissions
- Restart
- Turn off / turn on again
- Trash all iChat related preference files
- Add iChat to the firewall "allow all incoming connections" list, in the Security preferences panel.

I don't have another Mac running Leopard on hand, to test if the problem also exits Leopard to Leopard.

Please share if you have found a solution to this. Thanks!

 

[jimjuke]

Hello, has anyone found a solution to this? I am under a similar situation: I have an iMac 24" running Leopard 10.5.4. At our small business there are several other iMac G4, iMac G5 and iBook G4 all running Tiger 10.4.11. I use iChat's Bonjour intensively to communicate and exchange files with the rest of the team. Suddenly the following problem started: no Tiger user is able to Bonjour me, unless I send a message to him/her first. They can see me, but if they try to message me all they get is the following error:

"Instant Message connection failed. The other person’s computer may be unreachable."

So, in short, no Tiger users can initiate a Bonjour chat with me (running Leopard). I must initiate the chat myself for it to work. They can always AIM me, but it doesn't help much because it's excruciatingly slow to exchange files. Furthermore, when I am busy I stay offline in AIM while active in Bonjour, so only team members can contact me.

I have tried the following, unsuccessfully:
- Repair permissions
- Restart
- Turn off / turn on again
- Trash all iChat related preference files
- Add iChat to the firewall "allow all incoming connections" list, in the Security preferences panel.

I don't have another Mac running Leopard on hand, to test if the problem also exits Leopard to Leopard.

Please share if you have found a solution to this. Thanks!

I have noticed the can't send issue but you can reply in iChat over Bonjour. So far, in every instance, it was the computer in question having two network interfaces enabled (ie. Airport and Ethernet), but Ethernet was last in Set Service Order in the Network System Preference Pane. Moving Ethernet up to first fixes this issue.