iChat problems - won't open

[MamaMoose]

For the first time, I tried to use iChat (4.0.5) running under (Leopard) OS 10.5.4. So I hooked up my external iSight camera via FireWire 400 and opened the camera lens. iChat appeared and I could see my image in an iChat window. I then tried to communicate with my son and he appeared as active in my Buddy list. When he tried to connect to me, no joy. Further, he said I suddenly went off his "radar". So, I closed and then reopened iChat. Still the same problem - I could "see" him but not connect to him and he could see me but when he tried to connect, I got the message but when I selected the connection, iChat went into a continuous loading mode with the rotating gear icon. Meanwhile, he lost me. I noticed I had two iChats, 3.1.8 from OS 4 and 4.05 from 10.5. I deleted 3.1.8. So, we both tried shutting down iChat and rebooting but with no luck.

Finally, I rebooted the system. That really screwed things up. After rebooting the system, I reopened iChat and now 95% of the iChat menu items were grayed out. I could not open a video window and my Buddy List suddenly contained one item: my user name and icon and a multiple green camera icon. Clicking on the camera icon did not produce anything. Thinking that trashing 3.1.8 was the problem, using Time Machine, I moved 3.1.8 back into the App folder. No Joy.

Note that if I close the camera and then reopen it, iChat appears!

Does anyone have any ideas as to where do I go from here? I tried to find iChat preference files but they do not seem to exist. I suppose I can reinstall the system and see if that works. However, under Archive and Install will the installer overwrite the old iChat or ignore it?

Sorry for the long description,

Thanks, MamaMoose

[krissel]

Don't know anything about iChat but doing some digging I found a few things to try.

Go to Users/(your account)/Library/Preferences and delete com.apple.ichat.plist
Then restart iChat. Of course you will need to reenter settings so have it all ready.

Zap PRAM

Also some ideas and other plists to trash here:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1462798

[MamaMoose]

Paddy,

Thanks for the info however there is no .plist for ichat. I first searched my entire system and it came up blank. Then,  I found out the under the Window menu, the AIM Buddy list was turned off. Turning it on resulted in my buddy list appearing. Now my camera produces a video window showing my ugly mug! Next step is to see if my iChat (Leopard - 4.0.5) is compatible with my son's iChat (Tiger 3.1.. I thought these would be both forward and backward compatible but maybe not. I will find out next week.

MamaMoose

[krissel]

Hope it works out for you.


BTW... kris ≠ Paddy  

[Xairbusdriver]

There's a mention of other <problems with iChat> at MFI (if you hurry).