How to Fix iMessage

[jaymonkey]

So I just called Apple and gave them all my details, primarily my Apple ID and my MultiBeast generated Serial Number.

@theshiv,

Thanks for posting feedback on your experience on calling Apple. You do not mention if you got an iMessage alert with a customer code and a request to contact apple support.

That customer code is the key to making life a lot simpler when calling apple as it should avoid them probing your serial number too much. You only will get that code once you have resolved all local iMessage issues such as invalid UUId, S/N, MLB, ROM ... etc and iMessage is communicating and authenticating correctly with Apples systems.

Still its interesting you were able to get them to help you, however i would not advised that everyone start calling apple to help them fix iMessage. If you have invalid values as detailed in the guide you may get locked out again if you logout of Message.

My advice is to only call apple one you get the request to call them with a customer code.

Cheers
Jay

 

[jaymonkey]

I had the same issues -- nothing worked -- until I turned off UEFI in the Bios and set it to boot to legacy only...once I did this, i went through all the steps again...had to add the SMsystemuuid to the smbios.plist...and then I was good to go...

@adr1974,

Thanks for your feedback, your the third user who has confirmed my suspicion that UEFI can cause issues on some systems when using Chimera or Chameleon, still need a bit more feedback to prove this before i make it a fact in the guide.

Cheers
Jay

 

[jaymonkey]

Tried pretty much everything, including fixing SID bug and changing my iCloud password right after, but still getting "An error occurred during activation. Try again"

Went through step 4, tied to fix ROM value (to replace <00000>). Rebooted after injecting ROM, but after reboot ROM came back to 0 again. Was not able to login iMessage neither before reboot (after injecting ROM value), nor after.

Interesting fact is that MLB shows 16 characters instead of 17. Could it be the case? Would really appreciate your help as I completely ran out of the ideas.

GA-Z77X-UP5TH is my mobo

Thanks,
Alex

@avtor,

Are you using Mac Pro 3,1 ? as a system type, seems this causes a 11 character S/N rather then 12. My main build uses GA-Z77X-UD5H which is almost the same as your mobo except for Thunderbolt. I use iMac 13,1 and all works well for me. maybe you could try that ?

Cheers
Jay

 

[jborn]

@jborn,

The order you do things is critical, if you remove the plist then clear the boot args before rebooting the file will be re-created as you have forced a change of NVRAM variables. It could be that the NVRAM plist was not updated after you changed your System Type & S/N.

Please see Part-1, Step5e of the Guide, Step 5e. I've re-written this procedure to clarify how to reset the FileNVRAM plist.

Once you have done this reboot and check values via iMessage Debug. If MLB or ROM value is incorrect re-inject using terminal or direct plist edit. Reboot and check again.



Its due to a bug introduced by apple in OSX 10.9.3 if you use the latest multibeast audio injection method (uses boot-time dynlib hda enabler) then you may have issues with audio after sleep. To avoid this use the audio injection from multibeast 6.2.2 until a fix is found. Use the latest multibeast for everything else.

http://www.tonymacx86.com/announcements/139532-multibeast-6-4-2-update.html

Cheers
Jay

Jay,

I've got iMessage working again! Many, many, many thanks for helping me through that process.

I'll try and summarize what I did in order for it to start working again:

I have a working hackingtosh with a working iMessage up until Late July/Mid August? I dealt with it for a while and just replied via my phone until I found time to address it.

At that point I verified I did not have the SId bug, cleared my iMessage cache and files and the security file as detailed in Step 4. Thinking that was all I had to do, rebooted and nothing... iMessage still didn't work.

At some point I also found that I was using the old version of nvram and had to manually place the updated file in the /Extra/modules folder. I choose the one that matched the version of Chimera that I'm running which is 3.0.1 which paired with Nvram of 1.1.3

Then with Jay's direction found that nvram did not have the ROM set correctly. I tried to clear the nvram with sudo nvram boot-args="" and rebooted, checked nvram with imessage-debug and still didn't see the ROM.

At that point I injected the ROM using the MAC address of en0 (Ethernet adapter) found using the ifconfig command via a terminal window.

Rebooted and confirmed that the ROM was now correct by using imessage-debug.

At this point I got the call apple with the code message. I called them and they told me that the 11 digit code was invalid and I hung up in a panic, since they told me all S/N should be 12 characters long, not 11.

I then found out, once again with Jay's help, that Chameleon was setting my S/N to 11 characters long instead of 12, but I was also using an SMBios of Mac Pro 3,1 instead of iMac 14,2 which more closely matched my system. Once I set the SMBios to iMac 14,2 I saved and rebooted.

I started to confirm everything via imessage-debug and noticed the my S/N was still not correct. At that point I followed the steps in 5e to reset nvram and rebooted again. It still had my old S/N so I injected the new one.

I rebooted one last time and I double checked using imessage-debug one more time.

This time everything seemed correct, so I tried iMessage and got the customer code again. This time calling apple I talked to someone who said they couldn't find my computer, but they were able to get iMessage working!!

Thanks again Jay!!

 

[theshiv]

@theshiv,

Thanks for posting feedback on your experience on calling Apple. You do not mention if you got an iMessage alert with a customer code and a request to contact apple support.

That customer code is the key to making life a lot simpler when calling apple as it should avoid them probing your serial number too much. You only will get that code once you have resolved all local iMessage issues such as invalid UUId, S/N, MLB, ROM ... etc and iMessage is communicating and authenticating correctly with Apples systems.

Still its interesting you were able to get them to help you, however i would not advised that everyone start calling apple to help them fix iMessage. If you have invalid values as detailed in the guide you may get locked out again if you logout of Message.

My advice is to only call apple one you get the request to call them with a customer code.

Cheers
Jay

You are correct that I forgot that crucial piece of information. From the very beginning iMessage was providing me with a "validation code" to call and provide Apple Support. And my guess is this code is what made them not focus too much on my serial number.

For me iMessage and FaceTime had been working fine up until I restarted my computer yesterday. I had switched over from using wireless to the wired port on my motherboard a couple of weeks ago, so I assumed the issue was with that. I kept deleting the network interface plist and creating a new "wired network" in system preferences.

Finally I just called and gave Apple the validation code iMessage was providing me. One thing the tech mentioned on the phone right after he reset whatever it was he needed to reset, was something along the lines of:

"Okay, I've just cleared you in the system. Now you won't have to create a new Apple ID."

 

[jaymonkey]

Jay,

I've got iMessage working again! Many, many, many thanks for helping me through that process.

I'll try and summarize what I did in order for it to start working again:

.....

@jborn,

Well done, make sure you keep a backup of your /Extra folder and try to keep all System ID's the same from now on. Glad to have helped.

It just goes to show that you should not give up, all the info you need is in the guide. As you've found it can be a long and frustrating journey with iMessage. No one method will ever fix everyones issues 100% thats why the guide is so big and complex. The only real way to use the guide is to read it and understand, then you can use that knowledge to solve your iMessage issues in a logical order.

Cheers
Jay

 

[avtor]

@avtor,

Are you using Mac Pro 3,1 ? as a system type, seems this causes a 11 character S/N rather then 12. My main build uses GA-Z77X-UD5H which is almost the same as your mobo except for Thunderbolt. I use iMac 13,1 and all works well for me. maybe you could try that ?

Cheers
Jay

Thanks a lot Jay!

It is MacPro3,1. I'll try 13,1. Just wanted to clarify the steps - so i just need to run multi beast , correct? After that do I have to go through fixing SID bug procedure and then injecting ROM and MLB?

 

[pier25]

So today I turn my hackintosh on and I can't log in to Messages. iCloud and iTunes are working fine.

I have been using Messages for the past 2 months without problems on 10.9.3.

When I open Messages I get a grey log in window. I try to log in and then it says:

Your Apple ID ********* can't be used to set up iMessage at this time.

If this is a new Apple ID, you do not need to create another one. To use this Apple ID with iMessage, contact iMessage support with the code below.


Customer Code: ********

I've tried to delete all plists and folders mentioned in Cache and Preferences in STEP 4. I have not been able to delete all the files. I've also tried deleting the security plist but I have been unable to, even after stopping the mentioned security processes.

I've also tried creating a new system user, and logging in to Messages. Same error message. So I'm certain this is not a problem with any config plist, as a new user is almost like a fresh installation. I don't think it's either a problem with the VRAM, because yesterday it was working fine, and not much has changed in my machine. The only app I installed yesterday was the TOR bundle, but if this did something it shouldn't interfere with a fresh user.

Do you think I should contact Apple support?

 

[VivianMitchell]

I don't usually post to the board (although I read a lot) but in this case I thought I would add my experience to the thread.

Two days ago iMessage quit working for me too. I've followed the guide to a tee and can say the solutions within are quite effective. One important thing to note however- if you are still having trouble logging into iMessage even after clearing plists, nvram files, etc. it's a good idea to change the credit card information tied to your Apple ID- this fix worked for iMessage on my computer, for my mother on her iMac, and also for a friend of mine who was having trouble with the app (apparently that is just one way Apple verifies the authenticity of someone using iMessage).

Anyhow, two days ago iMessage failed for me after working flawlessly. I tried to log in but received the message to contact customer service with a customer code. FaceTime also would not validate.

After reading the most recent posts on this thread, I took the step of contacting Apple directly. My system is in an old G5 case so I figured if the rep asked me about serial numbers my line would be that the system had a motherboard replacement (which is true but withholding a little info). Sure enough the serial number posed an issue for the reps. They didn't like that it was 11 and not 12 digits; to them it was an invalid number.

Fortunately I've been through this with Apple before with my mother's completely legitimate iMac (which has a serial number they didn't like either). I was escalated to second representative who was concerned again about the serial number but noted that my Mac was "deregistered". He asked for the customer code, then assisted in registering the Macintosh. I restarted iMessage, put in my Apple ID and password, and was good to go.

Had all this failed me I was prepared to rebuild my plists with new UUID's and serials and hope for the best. I suppose now that they have my 11 digit serial number on file I'll not be able to make any changes and still call them about it in the future though. Let's just hope for the best now.

Oh one more thing- if you call, tell the automated system that you are calling about OS Ten, otherwise the system might try to get you to purchase AppleCare before forwarding you to a representative.

 

[jaymonkey]

Thanks a lot Jay!

It is MacPro3,1. I'll try 13,1. Just wanted to clarify the steps - so i just need to run multi beast , correct? After that do I have to go through fixing SID bug procedure and then injecting ROM and MLB?

@avtor,

No need to run multibeast, follow instructions on Sid Bug fix in part 2 after proving Sid Bug is resolved, perform all of step 4 then follow step 5 for NVRAM, MLB & ROM fix.

You should be good to go
Cheers
Jay