iChat won't boot!

[stoid]

My brother, in Taiwan, regularly uses iChat plus our iSights to stay in touch with us. He didn't show up this morning as we expected, and instead we got an E-mail from him. He says that when he clicks on iChat the icon bounces a few times and then the black arrow fades out. No window, no load, nothing. He said that he tried downloading and reinstalling iChat, but that did nothing for the problem. Please help! Thanks.

stoid

 

[stoid]

anyone?

Bueller, Bueller?

 

[crachoar]

I have the exact same problem, and the only fix I've found is "reinstall OSX".

Pretty lame if that's the only fix....

 

[stoid]

re-install the OS?!? What is this, Windows?!!! I don't even think he can do that, as he doesn't have a place to back-up his data.


There better be something better than that!

 

[King Cobra]

Tell him to go to:

[user]/Library/Preferences/

and to delete the file there called: com.apple.iChat.plist

Then try again. If that doesn't work (and only if the above technique doesn't work), try deleting:
com.apple.iChat.AIM.plist
com.apple.iChat.SubNet.plist
com.apple.iChatAgent.plist

Then try again.

 

[stoid]

Thanks, will do, I don't know what kind of turn around I'll get on whether or not that works, so if it doesn't this thread will be getting a bump. If there are any other suggestions, throw 'em my way.

 

[mr_mac]

Re-install the OS??

WHAT??

start by removing the actual App (to the trash and empty it!) and re-download it.

If that does not work, go in your home directory
(/Users/*your user name*)
look in the library folder, there is a folder named preferences.
open it and locate the files named com.apple.ichat*******

There should be at least 2, if not more. Delete them all.

Log out and re log in.

Restart iChat.

If that does not work, try creating a new user and log into it to see if it works.

Hope this helps,

Mrmac

 

[virividox]

flush the plist files is good fix, it normally fixes it; afterwards repair permissions

i would never reinstall an os to fix an ichat problem that doesnt make any sense at all

 

[mnkeybsness]

forget iChat...

get Adium!


but yeah... start with getting rid of the preferences

 

[stoid]

Well, the preferences thing didn't work.

Neither does Adium, or any alternative, because they don't support video chats like iChat (no, Yahoo! Messenger is NOT video, sorry).

Anything else to try?

 

[crachoar]

I told you .

I deleted the app and "redownloaded it" only to find out that if you download iChat from Apple.com that it tells you "no" basically when you try to install it since "iChat 2 isn't detected".

And yes, it does seem rather "windows" doesn't it? But that's the only solution I could find where people have had any success..

I tried installing it after deleting EVERYTHING (that I could find at least) involved with iChat using "Pacifist" to reinstall the original file from Disc 2 of Panther...

And that didn't work either.

I would also like some help if anybody knows how to fix this madness. And Adium is not an option. Unless it decides to have Voice/Video chat...

 

[mr_mac]

How about this? like i said before...

Try creating a new user.

install iChat in the new user.

open iChat.

If that does not work, there could be a font conflict or something similar.

For more informations, email me.

Hope This helps,

Mrmac

 

[stoid]

New and bizarre twist.

As it turns out, this may be some crazy network problem. (Note: he is overseas in Taiwan) At his apartment, on the English school campus where he teaches, iChat bounces 4 times and the arrow fades out, and iChat will not load. However, when he is in an office in another part of town iChat will load just fine. What makes this puzzle even MORE bizarre is that it used to work just fine from the apartment.

FWIW, he is using a 900 Mhz G3 iBook connected over ethernet.

I am completely stumped, I have NO clue what, how, or why he could be experiencing this problem!