Messages won't show non-ios texts, can't get into Recovery Mode

[sting7785]

Good afternoon. I had an update a few nights ago that didn't go through properly and seems to have messed some things up. The main issues I've seen is that Messages will only show me texts from iOS devices and that my saved safari usernames/passwords vanished. The usernames and passwords I can deal with and just save them again as I log into stuff. The Messages issue is driving me nuts as I use that app a lot. I've searched around online and tried a few options, but nothing seems to get my texts from non-iOS users to show up on my Mac anymore. This worked prior to the update a few nights ago, and I didn't alter any settings to possibly cause this. Any advice to get Messages working properly again?

If Messages can't get going properly again, my next thought was to reinstall the Mac OS to hopefully fix the application. As Messages is a bundled application, I don't know of any other way to reinstall it. When I try to boot into recovery mode with command + r, the computer just boots up normally. I also tried holding option while booting and this doesn't get me into the disk select mode either. Not sure what's going on here. Am I doing something wrong trying to get into recovery mode this way, or is it different in High Sierra?

My last thought was to download High Sierra from the Mac App Store. If I download and install it that way, will that do an OS install saving my data, or will that force a clean install?

Any help with these issues would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Model: iMac MB950, Late 2009 21.5", High Sierra.

 

[Gaprofitt]

I'm confused, Imessage only supports messages from IOS devices on the mac. It won't accept inbound messages from non IOS/macos devices.

 

[sting7785]

I'm confused, Imessage only supports messages from IOS devices on the mac. It won't accept inbound messages from non IOS/macos devices.

They updated it a few years ago to allow it to do text forwarding from an iPhone. Normally, I can text whoever I want from my iMac, regardless of iOS or non-iOS device. The text forwarding options are still set up on my phone, but suddenly, this feature doesn't work.

 

[Gaprofitt]

They updated it a few years ago to allow it to do text forwarding from an iPhone. Normally, I can text whoever I want from my iMac, regardless of iOS or non-iOS device. The text forwarding options are still set up on my phone, but suddenly, this feature doesn't work.

Oh sweet, I didn't know that, where do you set that up?

 

[BrianBaughn]

Sounds like you're trying to follow the directions on this Apple Support page (without erasing the drive) which would be the correct thing to do.

Check to see if you actually have a Recovery Partition by opening Terminal and typing: diskutil list

 

[sting7785]

Sounds like you're trying to follow the directions on this Apple Support page (without erasing the drive) which would be the correct thing to do.

Check to see if you actually have a Recovery Partition by opening Terminal and typing: diskutil list

I've never looked at this list, but it looks like I do have one set up. For the internal, physical, I'm seeing:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *960.2 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh SSD 959.3 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3


I'm assuming this #3 is the normal recovery partition that should be accessible with command + r while booting.

 

[simonsi]

They updated it a few years ago to allow it to do text forwarding from an iPhone. Normally, I can text whoever I want from my iMac, regardless of iOS or non-iOS device. The text forwarding options are still set up on my phone, but suddenly, this feature doesn't work.

Unset those options, then reset them on, if that doesn't fix it log out of iMessage on the Mac, then back in and reset the text forwarding up. One of those has always resolved it for me in the past.

For the saved passwords, that sounds like an iCloud or keychain login issue on the Mac.

Reinstalling macOS seems over kill, although it likely may work as it will also include you doing the above during the setup process.

 

[sting7785]

Unset those options, then reset them on, if that doesn't fix it log out of iMessage on the Mac, then back in and reset the text forwarding up. One of those has always resolved it for me in the past.

For the saved passwords, that sounds like an iCloud or keychain login issue on the Mac.

Reinstalling macOS seems over kill, although it likely may work as it will also include you doing the above during the setup process.

I've tried all of those steps for Messages already with no luck. That's why I'm looking into reinstalling macOS. That's the only way I can find to reinstall a bundled application and no other reset or option methods seem to be working.

 

[sting7785]

Bump, any advice on why I can't get into recovery mode, or if installing grabbing High Sierra from the App Store will allow me to reinstall the OS without losing my data?

 

[BrianBaughn]

I would think that installing via the Installer app in Applications (if it’s there) or via the Purchased apps section of the App Store app wouldn’t erase your data without some sort of warning during the process. On the support page linked above it shows that you’d have to purposely open Disk Utility and erase for that to happen.

I’ve never done it that way so hopefully someone else can verify.

 

[sting7785]

I would think that installing via the Installer app in Applications (if it’s there) or via the Purchased apps section of the App Store app wouldn’t erase your data without some sort of warning during the process. On the support page linked above it shows that you’d have to purposely open Disk Utility and erase for that to happen.

I’ve never done it that way so hopefully someone else can verify.

So I went ahead and tried installing it from the App Store and it did reinstall the OS without erasing my data. Sadly, it didn't fix my issue.

I remember reading recently about iOS messages having a bug where typing I would autocorrect to an A with a strange symbol beside it. I never had this issue on my phone, but this is happening on Messages on my Mac. I don't know if it's relevant, but maybe someone knows why this is going on. I still can't send/receive messages with non-iOS devices.