How to Fix iMessage

[3square]

Once it was obvious that this was affecting everyone with UP5-TH motherboards (which I own) and not other boards, i remembered that the Platform UUID is not set correctly in the bios that Gigabyte provides. This was obvious the first time i installed FileNVRAM because the nvram plist had a generic UUID as part of the file name (nvram.00020003-0004-0005-0006-000700080009.plist). That got me to thinking that Apple might be checking the SystemID now so i used the following to get my PlatformUUID

ioreg -lw0 | grep PlatformUUID

Then i edited chameleon boot plist to add that as my SystemID. One thing to note, the SystemID is different from the Hardware UUID in System Profiler. Hardware UUID is generated from SystemID so they are not the same but if you change SystemID, HardwareUUID will change too.

Anyways, i hope this helps everyone who is having problems.

<key>SystemId</key>
<string>HardwareUUID</string>

i already have NVRAM install, should i reinstall it?

 

[Wolfie81]

I have a UP5-TH and iMessage stopped working sometime last week. I fixed it by finding my PlatformUUID from IORegistry and then adding SystemId to org.chameleon.Boot.plist with my PlatformUUID.

Thank you very much!

iMessage WORKS!!

For a quick guide until JayMonkey updates post and for other users its a easy fix.

1. Open your system profiler. Go to Apple symbol top left corner - about this mac/more info/system report.
In hardware (first line on left column) there is 'Hardware UUID' with 5 blocks of text separated by a dashed line. Copy that somewhere or take note of it.

2. Open your org.chameleon.boot.plist and add at bottom of the key and string texts enter the following into the file with the appropriate UUID number as seen below.

<key>SystemId</key>
<string>INSERT UUID number here</string>

</dict>
</plist>

3. Save file, and reboot.

Upon reboot you will be immediately promoted to enter your iCloud, Mail accounts, cloud accounts, FaceTime, iMessage passwords and possibly some others.

Do so and then enjoy.


Many thanks to the community, for those who have indirectly and directly helped. To those who assisted jaymonkey through private PM's with another solution. Many thanks to rcork's method too as his solution worked for me. Ultimately its by helping each other we develop further understandings of how our 'unique' systems work.

On a side note, what does this mean from Apple's end. They are definitely checking ID's?


Edit : As per jay monkey's request I used UUID Hardware ID from system profiler and worked for me after editing plist on first reboot. I don't know much about computers so it appears I initially did not 100% follow rcorks instructions, luckily it worked for the moment anyway.

 

[jaymonkey]

Adding the SystemId key in org.chameleon.Boot.plist did NOT work for me.

iMessage was working last night fine. This morning, no go. See screen shot of log.

When I add the HardwareUUID as SystemId key in org.chameleon.Boot.plist, it changes the HardwareUUID on next reboot.

I'm on a MSI Z77MA-G45 motherboard, connected via the RTL builtin ethernet.

As reported by rcork .....

"One thing to note, the SystemID is different from the Hardware UUID in System Profiler. Hardware UUID is generated from SystemID so they are not the same but if you change SystemID, HardwareUUID will change too."

---

@All

If replying with feedback about the SystemId fix please state if you used a random UUID, hardware UUID or platform UUID and associated strangeness ....

I think it will work if you use either but the value of System Id is used as a crypto key for the Hardware UUID so it will change on the next reboot forcing a refresh of some of your user profile system preference settings (hardware UUID is used as a crypto key for user UUID)

Update: I think this is meant to be a unique UUID number as recommended by the Chameleon developers so try using a Random UUID not an existing one from your system.

Be sure to delete the existing nvram.xxxxxx.plist in /Extra and reboot.

Cheers
Jay

 

[Wolfie81]

As reported by rcork I think you need to use the platform UUID not hardware UUID .....

Otherwise hardware ID will change on next reboot ?

Cheers
Jay

See my post above, it worked for me?

 

[mrcivic98]

This is good news,

I received a few private msg's today informing that it is also possible to resolve this iMessage issue by adding the UUID to the two iMessage background processes plist's.

This ties in with what you guys have discovered. If SystemID is not set then FileNVRAM can not update the simulated nvram which means the two iMessage helper processes (imagent & imservice) can not retrieve the SystemID from the nvram to update their associated plists - thus creating the NULL value keys seen in the logs ?

It does all makes sense, it would suggest that the recent change at Apples end involves checking the value of SystemID (platform UUID) with-in the iMessage security packets, if its not in nvram to begin with then the check returns NUL ?

Which ties in with the original UUID mismatch/check theory quite well.

If thats the case then we now need to find out why SystemID is getting set on some motherboards and not others (possible BIOS issue ?), although to be honest as a belt and braces fix this seems to be an easy and secure way of making sure SystemID is always set to the platfrom UUID and not relaying of Chameleon / Chimera / NVFileRAM to set it automatically if its not stated specifically in org.chameleon.Boot.plist.

Great work everybody, praise the power of the OSX Community . . .

Can all effected owners try this and give feed back...

If it looks like a fix i'll update the main guide.

Cheers
Jay

Just wanted to update: I pulled the hardware UUID and added it to the org.chameleon.Boot.plist as the SystemId string and it worked! It actually took a few minutes for iMessage to start working. I originally thought that it did not work but a few minutes later, I received an email stating that my Apple ID had been used to sign into a Mac Mini. I went back into Messages and we're back! Thanks so much to all who helped with this.

 

[3square]

how do i find the platform UUID? please

 

[rcork]

how do i find the platform UUID? please

ioreg -lw0 | grep PlatformUUID

 

[jaymonkey]

See my post above, it worked for me?

@Wilfie81

Did some of your user profile preference settings get reset to default ?

Have updated last post with better explanation.

Cheers
Jay

 

[3square]

ioreg -lw0 | grep PlatformUUID

thank you. that is what i use, same as in system profiler.

not working =\

 

[Wolfie81]

Hi guys, I'm confused, while I got it working, i decided to reboot to see if hardware UUID changed in system profiler and it did. I decided to go into terminal and enter

ioreg -lw0 | grep PlatformUUID

as per rcorks instructions, but that too has changed to match the hardware UUID in system profiler.

It appears that on reboot both seem to change and match each other?
My iMessage still works even if the number entered in my plist is currently different though...

My theory is it does not matter if the the UUID/System/Platform number changes on every boot. As long as you use the one at the time of registration with Apple servers it will remain 'live' until you sign out of iMessage and in again.