How to Fix iMessage

[Kris404]

Dear jaymonkey,
I write you to ask if my system ID is correct (for the imessage bug).

system-id, Data, <00 02 xx xx 00 04 xx xx 00 06 00 xx 00 08 00 09>

Looks like an invalid sID.

It should be something like this:
<69 53 7f eg cf 1e 45 4a b7 d4 9c ed 4e 3e d5 ef>

 

[VioletDragon]

some motherboards suffer from something called a SIg Bug there is a guide on tonymac to fix this i had issues with iMessage also but mine kept coming up with a customer code rung apple up they verified my account with the code and it worked but try the guide for fixing SIg bug hope this helps

 

[jaymonkey]

Dear jaymonkey,
I write you to ask if my system ID is correct (for the imessage bug).

system-id, Data, <00 02 xx xx 00 04 xx xx 00 06 00 xx 00 08 00 09>

@tommo84,

Your BIOS is suffering from the SId bug ... please confirm your motherboard so i can add it to the list in part 2.

Your SM UUID is the same as in the example i put in the guide thus it will create a black-listed hardware UUID. Start with Part 2 of the guide and resolve the SId Bug, then go back to Part-1 and follow steps 4 and 5, I should think that will be enough to resolve your iMessage issue.

Be sure to read all of the guide and digest it, it seems some users are just reading bits of the guide. If you read the whole thing you will have a much better understanding of all the issues that can effect iMessage.

Cheers
Jay

 

[jaymonkey]

some motherboards suffer from something called a SIg Bug there is a guide on tonymac to fix this i had issues with iMessage also but mine kept coming up with a customer code rung apple up they verified my account with the code and it worked but try the guide for fixing SIg bug hope this helps

Please, if your not sure what you talking about please refrain from passing on bad advice to others. The Guide you mention above and your questionable video is at the start of this thread but you give no links in either ? and the BIOS problem is called the SId bug not SIg ( System Identity Bug).

Jay

 

[VioletDragon]

its just not the Z77X-UD5Th that suffers from that SId bug its other motherboards i have the Z77n-WIFI that had the same issue and sorry for the wrong wording mac changes the wording sorry about that

 

[rockinwaggy]

Got a Logitech C615 last night and tried to login to Facetime. No dice. I deleted the security plists and rebooted. Now iMessage is out as well gave me a code to contact Apple with.

I'm waiting on the call now. It will be interesting if this also fixes my Facetime issue.

No dice. Gave the person on the other end the serial of my MBP and he said because I was out of AppleCare, I had to pay $19 for help.

How did everyone else get around it?

 

[tommo84]

[QUOTE=jaymonkey;864191]@tommo84,

Your BIOS is suffering from the SId bug. Although you don't list your hardware I'm guessing that you have a GA-Z77X-UD5Th Mobo ? if not please confirm your motherboard so i can add it to the list in part 2.

Your SM UUID is the same as in the example i put in the guide thus it will create a black-listed hardware UUID. Start with Part 2 of the guide and resolve the SId Bug, then go back to Part-1 and follow steps 4 and 5, I should think that will be enough to resolve your iMessage issue.

Be sure to read all of the guide and digest it, it seems some users are just reading bits of the guide. If you read the whole thing you will have a much better understanding of all the issues that can effect iMessage.

Cheers
Jay[/QUOTE]

First, thanks for all the support.

My MB is the following:
MotherBoard AsRock H77 Pro4-M Socket 1155 Intel H77 DDR3 SATA3 USB3 VGA DVI HDMI MicroATX


I have done all the passages from part-1 and part-2, but still nothing works.

In particular the nvram.uuid.plist file has still the incorrect uuid values, even if I managed to change the system ID with a valid one (as confirmed by IOJones).

I think the problem is now at step 5d of part-1.

Altough I am able to set correctly the MLB value, the ROM value is like <xx633xxx 6634xx64 xxx83337>, even if I manually instert my Mac adress by using the command sudo nvram 4D1EDE05-38C7-4A6A-9CC6-4BCCA8B38C14:ROM=xxxxxxxxx


How can I fix this issue?

thanks a lot in advance

Tommo

 

[carltom46]

@carltom46,

Its very difficult to put the guide into an order that will work for everybody as not everyone has the same issues at the same time. I've tried to put as much info and advice into the guide as i can. Its not really meant as a step by step guide, think of it as a tool box. You really need to read it - start to finish at least once and try and understand the mechanisms that make iMessage tick. Armed with this knowledge you should be able to work through and resolve each issue with the appropriate tool.

Its probably that at some point you will get the message to contact apple with a customer code. Once you get that do not try to fix it, everything is working at that stage but due to the many reasons explained in the guide your AppleID may have have had a device lock put on it at which point you should contact them as detailed in the guide.

If things don't work the first time, don't give up take a look at the posts between myself and Jborn over the last few pages for an example of how to keep plugging away at it. If you can try and get things working using Ethernet to begin with. Once iMessage is working try the WiFi.

Cheers
Jay

You are correct; I noticed when I read it that it is not really meant to be followed step-by-step. Anyway, I reinstalled with my wifi card uninstalled from the system. I then set everything up using the nvram dylib, and now am asked to contact apple with a code. I am happy now, because, based on what I've seen on this forum, this problem really isn't on your end anymore, but is on Apple's servers blocking you out. I plan to call apple to have them do whatever magic they do fix this issue (I'm just glad I'm not getting a generic error anymore which showed it was something on my end).

 

[AntikytheraTech]

New to this thread, so first let me say wow! and huge thanks to every person here, especially the author of the OP. This is a very comprehensive thread and just another reason why this community is so awesome!

On to my issues. I have been using iMessage without issues for the past 3 months then yesterday noticed that I was listed as "offline" in all my conversations. I could not alter this so I quit iMessage and then re-opened at which point I was prompted to log in. When I put in my AppleID and password, it then churns for a few seconds and I get the following message:

"Could not sign into iMessage. An error occurred during activation. Try again."

I am also unable to log in to FaceTime. App Store is working fine.

I am still able to log into iMessage on my Macbook Pro (mid-2012).

I am at step 4 now in the OP (removing iMessage Setup Data). I have found all of the folders and files (including the security ones) that I am instructed to delete. I have them in my Trash now but I cannot empty trash. I have opened up Activity Monitor and tried to kill "securityd_service" and "securityd" but they immediately re-appear in the list. When i try to empty trash it says that none of those files (not just the security ones, but all the iMessage and ichat, etc as well) can be deleted because they are in use.

I have double checked that iMessage and FaceTime are not running. I have also closed the finder window that I was using to navigate to the files in the first place. Not sure what else could be using them and therefore keeping me from deleting them. Anyone have any suggestions or see something I am doing wrong? Thanks all!

UPDATE:

After performing a reboot I was then able to empty the trash, which as stated above had the iMessage preference files and folders I had been trying to delete per step 4. After deleting the files iMessage was still feeding me the same error. I used the imessage_debug file (step 5d from the OP) and was then able to diagnose my first problem - my ROM value was invalid (it was all 0's). I find this interesting and would love to know how that came to be because I have been using iMessage on this hacintosh for past 3 months without any issues. I have not made any recent updates either, been running on 10.9.4, stable and fully functional when all the sudden iMessage and FaceTime stopped working out of the blue.... odd.

Anyways, I made sure I had the most recent chameleon installed and then went into my BIOS and disabled all of the EFI boot options (set all to legacy only). Then cleared the iMessage preference data again (step 4 from the OP). Repaired perms and then rebooted. Per the imessage_debug program my ROM value was still invalid. After verifying my BIOS options were all still set to legacy I then manually injected the ROM value using the commands in the OP. As suggested in the OP, I too would like to deal with the problem at it's source (in the BIOS apparently) but after making the BIOS changes and still having the same issue I was not sure what else to do at this point. After manually injecting a new ROM value (I used my device's ethernet MAC address) I then verified I had a valid-appearing ROM # with imessage_debug. All checked out there. I deleted the imessage preference data again, repaired perms and rebooted.

I then got the iMessage alert that I needed to contact iMessage Customer support with my Customer ID. I was happy to at least see a new error message and then even happier when I continued to read on and find that according to the OP and other posts that this alert meant all was fixed on my end and now I needed to call apple. I called apple and was transferred to a tech on the "CPU team" - apparently the hardware guys. The lady I spoke with knew exactly what was happening the moment I started explaining it. She asked for my Apple ID and then for the Customer ID# that iMessage was giving me in that alert. She said "I can see the block on your IP address now, one moment. There, try logging in now I removed it". Immediately I was able to log in from my hacintosh. Interesting she used the word "IP block" multiple times. There has been some speculation in this thread what specifically Apple is using to block the device from registering with your Apple ID. My hacintosh is connected to my home network on a double NAT LAN network (computer to a router daisy-chained to a combo router/modem). Of note, my Macbook Pro was connected to the same network and iMessage was working fine (which Apple could see on their end too). This leads me to believe that they are not looking at my external IP (otherwise why would the Macbook Pro be registering just fine?). Does this mean they are seeing my internal IP address? Or are they using some other system-specific identifier (like MAC address) and calling it IP for some other reason. In any event, they did not ask me for a serial number or anything like that. Very polite (as Apple usual is so i am told) and very easy. Took about 5 minutes to get to the right person then 30 seconds for them to remove the block. All is working fine now with iMessage and Facetime. Thanks all, hope this helps. And BIG thanks to jaymonkey for putting this together and continuing to maintain it! Great work

 

[rockinwaggy]

Good news. I called a second time and went through the automated prompts. It already knew my name and the macbook pro I was "calling" about. Neat. It then told me that I needed to pay for a per-incident fee. To get more info on that, I needed to say so. It connected me to a representative and I told him what was going on. He said that because it was something simple like a setting that he wouldn't charge me. After I verified who I was, I told him that I had a customer code and I gave it to him. He did some magic on his end and it was good to go.

Facetime and iMessage are working fine now.

Note: I can verify that all of my "numbers" "S/Ns, UUIDs, MLB and ROM values" are all correct and matching where necessary. Don't be afraid to call! Give the serial to a real mac if possible. They didn't ask any questions about it after I entered it in (went automatically as I had called a couple of times before and remembered the machine).