Problems with iChat may be account-specific

If you are experiencing problems with repeated iChat crashes or other issues with the application, try switching instant messaging accounts (between .Mac and AOL Instant Messenger) or establishing a new account. In some cases, the issues may be specific to certain screennames.

MacFixIt reader Luc writes:

"I've been having major problems with iChat. It's been very quirky on my machine. It had been crashing intermittently for over a week. I tried reinstalling 10.4.2. Didn't work the first time--returning an error. Then applying the downloaded version from developer site worked -- for about 12 hours. It fixed the crash problem, but then all of a sudden I couldn't see my buddies or vice versa (they were listed, but shown as offline). I verified that they were indeed online. I tried the AOL AIM application. But it had the same problem.

"Finally, I VNC'd to a remote Mac on a different network from which I launched iChat, and to my astonishment the problem was the same. So there's some interaction between my account and the AOL servers"

"I set up a .mac account and switched to it and ... so far so good."

If you are experiencing similar problems, please let us know.

Resources