How to Fix iMessage

[donestephens]

Hi Guys

New build from scratch, consisting of

GIGABYTE Z170XGAMING5 LGA1151 ATX
INTEL CORE I5-6600K
INTEL 600P SERIES 512GB M.2 SSD
16 GB DDR4 2133

I used the Sierra installer from a 10.12.2 Mac with clover, following another poster's model. Everything is working fine. I declined to sign into iCloud at build time, and followed the Idiot's Guide to setting up iMessage. I have reached the point where the iMessage debugger gives me consistent output across system restarts. So as far as the Idiot's Guide goes, I think I am solid.

Messages was able to send messages initially to a couple of different iMessage users, but only via SMS. But SMS messages to the same users fail now.

I was able to initiate a FaceTime call a couple of times to an iPhone user (who happened to be on my home wifi network at that moment) successfully (although the audio was distorted--one end very high-pitched, one end very low pitched.)

If I type in the name of a contact in the Messages app to create a new message, the name will auto-populate to show that contact, and iMessage will appear to the right of their phone number, but then about a second later, it switches from saying iMessage to Text Message, and if I send a message, it goes SMS, not iMessage (and then gets marked "not delivered").

I am logged into my iMessages account, and it is marked enabled. I am not seeing any errors from Messages, except that if I type in a phone number that I know to belong to an iPhone, it will say that the number is not registered with iMessage.

Stuck here. Suggestions appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[geminii]

Hi. I just setup a clean install of Sierra and got to part in the Idiot's Guide where I had to use the iMessageDebug and in the output I noticed two things that caused concern:

SmUUID: failed

System-ID: failed

I am hesitant to try logging in to iCloud at this point because that seems strange.

Any ideas?

 

[esafeddie]

Hi. I just setup a clean install of Sierra and got to part in the Idiot's Guide where I had to use the iMessageDebug and in the output I noticed two things that caused concern:

SmUUID: failed

System-ID: failed

I am hesitant to try logging in to iCloud at this point because that seems strange.

Any ideas?

With both of these values returning as 'Failed' it would be almost pointless logging into iCloud if you would even gain a successful login. It seems your system is not retaining these two injected values. If I may suggest, try these steps to overcome the problem. Disconnect from the internet and stay disconnected until all steps are tried and tested (most important) -> reboot -> delete these files :-

In Finder navigate to Username/Library/Preferences and delete all files and folders beginning with

• com.apple.iChat.
• com.apple.icloud.
• com.apple.ids.service
• com.apple.imagent.
• com.apple.imessage.
• com.apple.imservice.

If you have kept a note of the injected values, enter them again or you will have to formulate new ones (MLB, ROM & SmUUID) and save in the config.plist. Once you're done, reboot (still offline) and run iMsgDebugger and check the results, if the values are as injected, repeat the 'reboot and check' process at least twice more to insure the exact same results. If they are, then you're good to go, if you're still getting 'failed' it means your NvRAM is not retaining the values between reboots which will need correcting. Good luck.

 

[esafeddie]

Hi Guys

New build from scratch, consisting of

GIGABYTE Z170XGAMING5 LGA1151 ATX
INTEL CORE I5-6600K
INTEL 600P SERIES 512GB M.2 SSD
16 GB DDR4 2133

I used the Sierra installer from a 10.12.2 Mac with clover, following another poster's model. Everything is working fine. I declined to sign into iCloud at build time, and followed the Idiot's Guide to setting up iMessage. I have reached the point where the iMessage debugger gives me consistent output across system restarts. So as far as the Idiot's Guide goes, I think I am solid.

Messages was able to send messages initially to a couple of different iMessage users, but only via SMS. But SMS messages to the same users fail now.

I was able to initiate a FaceTime call a couple of times to an iPhone user (who happened to be on my home wifi network at that moment) successfully (although the audio was distorted--one end very high-pitched, one end very low pitched.)

If I type in the name of a contact in the Messages app to create a new message, the name will auto-populate to show that contact, and iMessage will appear to the right of their phone number, but then about a second later, it switches from saying iMessage to Text Message, and if I send a message, it goes SMS, not iMessage (and then gets marked "not delivered").

I am logged into my iMessages account, and it is marked enabled. I am not seeing any errors from Messages, except that if I type in a phone number that I know to belong to an iPhone, it will say that the number is not registered with iMessage.

Stuck here. Suggestions appreciated.

Thanks.

More often than not a simple log out of iCloud and then back in again corrects this problem. Its just a matter of syncing the services on your system specially when the setup is new.

 

[geminii]

With both of these values returning as 'Failed' it would be almost pointless logging into iCloud if you would even gain a successful login. It seems your system is not retaining these two injected values. If I may suggest, try these steps to overcome the problem. Disconnect from the internet and stay disconnected until all steps are tried and tested (most important) -> reboot -> delete these files :-

In Finder navigate to Username/Library/Preferences and delete all files and folders beginning with

• com.apple.iChat.
• com.apple.icloud.
• com.apple.ids.service
• com.apple.imagent.
• com.apple.imessage.
• com.apple.imservice.

If you have kept a note of the injected values, enter them again or you will have to formulate new ones (MLB, ROM & SmUUID) and save in the config.plist. Once you're done, reboot (still offline) and run iMsgDebugger and check the results, if the values are as injected, repeat the 'reboot and check' process at least twice more to insure the exact same results. If they are, then you're good to go, if you're still getting 'failed' it means your NvRAM is not retaining the values between reboots which will need correcting. Good luck.

Hi esafeddie,

Thanks for the reply. I actually didn't try to setup iCloud because of that. I was trying to be very cautious. After further research, I found out that I had mistakenly had a Custom UUID in the Sys Parameters part of my config.plist which I believe was overriding the random MLB and ROM. I think this was a carry over from my Clover install process (used Shilohh's Golden Build guide for RIVEs)

I removed this Custom UUID, saved Clover config and rebooted. The MLB and ROM no longer reported as failed in iMessageDebug and were correct to what was setup in Clover Config. I then compared iMessageDebug output on 4 subsequent reboots and all were identical and correct.

Thinking that I was good to go I went ahead and set up iCloud. Email, Keychain, iTunes, App Store, etc. all worked perfectly. Unfortunately I received the dreaded Contact Apple with Customer Code when I tried to setup iMessage and FaceTime.

I guess there is nothing left to do.

 

[esafeddie]

Ok - Unfortunately the dreaded code seems to be the norm these days since Apple has beefed up their security. I still find it bizarre that they will allow logons to iCloud, iTunes and the App Store but block your rig from iMessage/F-Time, I don't know maybe they deem thats where the biggest security threat lies. I have a personal theory about the whole thing which Ive mentioned in the past which is - Since our setups were put together by our selves along with formulated and injected values that can be changed any time at a whim i.e system specs, ROM, MLB, etc, this is the reason Apple is cautious where the Hackintosh community is concerned. On a genuine Mac the values are burnt into the motherboard at the manufacture stage and are logged onto their data base as one of theirs making it somewhat difficult changing the Mac Specs from one model to the next whereas we can, not to mention any of the components.

If you're not feeling faint hearted, put in a call with the given code and just say you're having a problem logging into iMsg with your Apple ID and you're wondering if there is a block on your account. Good luck.

 

[VioletDragon]

THAT'S what I meant.. So disconnect iCloud, App store, etc.. I thought it'd be just never use iMessage again.

Thanks again

Yes. Should be fine.

 

[izo1]

Hey peeps, have been pulling my hair out to get iMessage to work following this thread and other resources.

iMessage was working perfectly until:

So basically I:

1. Removed Wifi/BT card (Broadcom OOB version)
2. Updated ASUS Bios (used the correct settings after reset of course)

Every time I try to login now, it gives me an "Could not sign into iMessage. An error occurred during activation. Try again." error

I have tried clearing all Plists, Changing Profile from 14,2 to 17,1 and vice versa. New UUID, new serials, ROM/MLB, clearing the Keychain, wiping out the iCloud settings, etc.

I have a backup of my main partition but it goes back to 1.5 months and I'd love to be able to fix this somehow without going back to that backup.

I have called Apple and (of course) mentioned my real MacBook (which I do have) can't login and they checked their blocklist and said my username is definitely not blocked.

Any help appreciated.

P.S. I've tried to create a brand new Apple ID on a brand new admin user, but still get the same error...so definitely a Hackintosh issue.

P.P.S. I'm getting "Failed" in ROM/MBL with iMessage Debug...but initially when I setup this Hackintosh with El Capitan, I didn't ever need to enter anything in RtVariables and it worked fine for almost a year without these values.

P.P.P.S. I tried a real macs (My own rMBP) ROM/MBL and it's still a no go.

 

[esafeddie]

Hey peeps, have been pulling my hair out to get iMessage to work following this thread and other resources.

iMessage was working perfectly until:

So basically I:

1. Removed Wifi/BT card (Broadcom OOB version)
2. Updated ASUS Bios (used the correct settings after reset of course)

Every time I try to login now, it gives me an "Could not sign into iMessage. An error occurred during activation. Try again." error

I have tried clearing all Plists, Changing Profile from 14,2 to 17,1 and vice versa. New UUID, new serials, ROM/MLB, clearing the Keychain, wiping out the iCloud settings, etc.

I have a backup of my main partition but it goes back to 1.5 months and I'd love to be able to fix this somehow without going back to that backup.

I have called Apple and (of course) mentioned my real MacBook (which I do have) can't login and they checked their blocklist and said my username is definitely not blocked.

Any help appreciated.

P.S. I've tried to create a brand new Apple ID on a brand new admin user, but still get the same error...so definitely a Hackintosh issue.

P.P.S. I'm getting "Failed" in ROM/MBL with iMessage Debug...but initially when I setup this Hackintosh with El Capitan, I didn't ever need to enter anything in RtVariables and it worked fine for almost a year without these values.

P.P.P.S. I tried a real macs (My own rMBP) ROM/MBL and it's still a no go.

Check your ethernet card is registered as (en0) and builtin -> 'About this Mac' -> 'System Report' ->'Network'.

 

[izo1]

Check your ethernet card is registered as (en0) and builtin -> 'About this Mac' -> 'System Report' ->'Network'.

Thanks for the reply!

It is at en0.

I just restored 2 month old clone and still have the same issue.

Currently trying a fresh install of Sierra to see if this fixes it. Really need iMessage.