How to Fix iMessage

[jaymonkey]

Thanks man! That new section is exactly what I was looking for!

As it turned out, the ROM entry in my NVRAM was empty (all zeros), while MLB seems to have a valid value.
I've edited the nvram.uuid.plist on my helper drive (ROM section is zero there, too) to hold the value mentioned in post #694. (Didn't modify MLB though).
Reboot -- works! (not the best way, I know, but it'll do).

EDIT: Lol, my phone number has been removed from my Apple ID. Not only on my hackintosh, but also on my iPhone.

EDIT2: Okay, hat to reactive iMessage on my iPhone, phone number is back now. I'll try to find out why my ROM is invalid...

@Fl0r!an,

Thats always going to be a danger when using someones else's ROM and or MLB values, which is why i have not posted those values nor endorsed the method in the guide. You could try using the mac address of your ethernet port or some random hexadecimal digits for the ROM value, that should work and will be unique.

I've updated Step 5d with a bit more information on this.

Cheers
Jay

 

[Fl0r!an]

Yeah, you're right, I've inserted my MAC address as ROM value. iMessage still works (checked login/logout).

I've had a look at the source code of FileNVRAM (current development version though, not 1.1.3 I've installed). A new ROM entry will be generated, if there isn't one. It doesn't check if it's valid though.
When generating the ROM entry, this happens:

    else if(key->isEqualTo(NVRAM_GEN_ROM))
    {
        OSBoolean* shouldgen = OSDynamicCast(OSBoolean, value);
        if(shouldgen && shouldgen->isTrue())
        {
            // Ideally we'd read this from the primary NIC's MAC address
            LOG("Generating ROM\n");
            
            char buffer[6]; // mac addr
            bzero(buffer, sizeof(buffer));
            
            for(int i = 0; i < sizeof(buffer); i++)
            {
                buffer[i] = random() % 255;
            }
            
            
            const OSSymbol* sym = OSSymbol::withCString(APPLE_ROM_KEY);
            OSData* value = OSData::withBytes(buffer, sizeof(buffer));
            entry->setProperty(sym, value);
            sym->release();
            value->release();
        }

So it's basically 6 bytes of random data. However, I still don't get why FileNVRAM leaves the ROM entry blank in my nvram.uuid.plist, even when I delete the file on both my system drive and my helper partition(s).

 

[shaunvis]

I remember messing with this all a year or so ago but don't remember everything as far as what all the values mean or should be.

So I ran iMessage_debug and ROM and MLB both have the same long string before them. After MLB is a string of numbers & letters. After ROM however is: <00000000 00000000 00000000 00>

From reading the new debug section of the guide it sounds like I need to inject a mac or something into that.

But, that being the case, why would it work on this same machine if I log in as another user? The values are the same if I run imessage_debug as the other user.

 

[Fl0r!an]

But, that being the case, why would it work on this same machine if I log in as another user? The values are the same if I run imessage_debug as the other user.

Maybe the other user is still logged in? I think iMessage will keep working with crap values unless you log out (or get logged out).
Inserting the en0 MAC address as ROM value with the text editor of your choice (I used TextWrangler) worked for me.

Still would like to know how the zeros got there in first place. While looking at the code from my last post I think that should never happen.

 

[jaymonkey]

Maybe the other user is still logged in? I think iMessage will keep working with crap values unless you log out (or get logged out).
Inserting the en0 MAC address as ROM value with the text editor of your choice (I used TextWrangler) worked for me.

Still would like to know how the zeros got there in first place. While looking at the code from my last post I think that should never happen.

@Fl0r!an & @shaunvis,

I also looked into this some time ago when i was poking around FileNVRAM's source code to see if i could figure out whats going on with FileNVRAM on Raid/Fusion drives. If memory serves me correct the early versions of FileNVRAM tried to use the primary ethernet MAC address but in later versions (1.1.1 onwards) it generates a random value for ROM. I think the MAC address extraction method they were using was not reliable.

As suggested by Fl0r!an in his post above, I think that these nvram values are referenced when registering a osx system on iMessage for the first time and not each session, as long as you stay logged into iMessage then it should continue working.

As to why some users end up with an invalid MLB and/or ROM value i'm still not 100% sure but i believe that it is something to do UEFI vs Legacy BIOS booting. The only time i've personally suffered from a invalid ROM value was when i was working on a friends system which was booting with UEFI. Disabling it seemed to resolve the issue however this still remains to be confirmed so any feedback on this subject would be appreciated.

Another theory is that Chimera / Chameleon has issues if too many dynlib files are in the modules folder, you could try removing some or all of the other dynlib files and see if that helps. Possible lack of stack space ?

Going back to the ROM value itself, as detailed in the guide i think it can be anything but in my mind it makes sense to use the NIC MAC address rather than random numbers as your more likely to have less problems with a constant value rather than one that changes every time you delete FileNVRAM's plist in /Extra.

Unfortunately i don't think Chimera and Chameleon support injecting MLB & ROM directly but Clover does which is possibly why some users have had success changing their boot-loader to Clover.

I've revised Step 5d further to make it a little clearer and removed the reference to the posts with shared/leeched MLB & ROM values as i don't want to be responsible for issues caused by using someone else's values. I think the only reason to use leeched values is if you don't have any legit Apple devices associated with your AppleID .... ?

Cheers
Jay

 

[Stingray88]

Still wondering if anyone can help me out. I've tried every step listed in this guide to get iMessage working again (it previously worked no problem for well over a year and a half) and I'm just getting the same message every time. "An error occurred during activation. Try again."

Is there anything else that isn't listed on this guide that could possibly get iMessage working for me again? I'm all out of ideas... and have tried every step literally 10 times on multiple different days...

Z77-UD5H on 10.9.4

 

[Fl0r!an]

Did you check iMessage debug? Is something (MLB & ROM) missing?

As to why some users end up with an invalid MLB and/or ROM value i'm still not 100% sure but i believe that it is something to do UEFI vs Legacy BIOS booting. The only time i've personally suffered from a invalid ROM value was when i was working on a friends system which was booting with UEFI. Disabling it seemed to resolve the issue however this still remains to be confirmed so any feedback on this subject would be appreciated.

My board (GA-P55M-UD2) doesn't have UEFI, so at least for me it must be something different.

 

[jk67954]

Did you check iMessage debug? Is something (MLB & ROM) missing?

My board (GA-P55M-UD2) doesn't have UEFI, so at least for me it must be something different.

Did you know Almost all hackintosh user cannot login the messager the result is contact apple to regist when this morning (Asia) the imessage suddenly cann't login and post a your account cann't register my apple id is Binding of credit card and usable for login and logout series times and suffer the AppleID Lockout error suddenly I think that time the apple servers has changed to refuse the login of hackintosh and when post this last request
imessage log08/20/14 15:06:34 [FTServices(imagent:225:YES:c07):Registration] Building URL request with URL:https://service2.ess.apple.com/WebOb...oa/wa/register)
the server check the MLB or ROM paraments to refuse the register method
Can you help me to solve this problem?

 

[jaymonkey]

Did you know Almost all hackintosh user cannot login the messager the result is contact apple to regist when this morning (Asia) the imessage suddenly cann't login and post a your account cann't register my apple id is Binding of credit card and usable for login and logout series times and suffer the AppleID Lockout error suddenly I think that time the apple servers has changed to refuse the login of hackintosh and when post this last request
imessage log08/20/14 15:06:34 [FTServices(imagent:225:YES:c07):Registration] Building URL request with URL:https://service2.ess.apple.com/WebOb...oa/wa/register)
the server check the MLB or ROM paraments to refuse the register method

@jk67954,

I've checked the Apple services and there are no reported outages/issues for Asia.
How do you know that it effecting 'Almost all hackintosh' ?
iMessage is working fine in the UK, is anybody else in Asia having iMessage issues this morning ?

Have you read through the guide ? .... in summary you could try the following:-

• Clear NVRAM boot args
• Delete nvram.uuid.plist in /extra
• Perform all of Step4 in the guide including the update on 8th Aug
• Reboot - check for new nvram.uuid.plist in /extra and ensure uuid matches sm-uuid (see part 2 of the guide)
• Try iMessage

@All,

Please be aware that there are several AppleID account verification scam eMails doing the rounds at the moment, as always be careful, they are usually pretty easy to spot, if it is not addressed to yourself it is almost certainly a Phishing/Scam email.
I've received two of these from different sources (bots) in the last two days. The one above is more obviously fake, bad wording, bad logo ... etc. The email i got yesterday looked a little more convincing and contained a valid link to the AppleID help verification page but the link to resolve the so called issue is was false and the same as the example above:-

http://secure-login-to-your-information-to-update-account.fistpay.zcc.bz/

Don't jump to the conclusion that its connected with a iMessage issue (if your suffering from one)

Please be careful, if you receive one of these scam emails forward it to Apples fraud department, more information on what to do and where to forward the email can be found here:-

https://www.apple.com/legal/more-resources/phishing/

Cheers
Jay

 

[jk67954]

@jk67954,

I've checked the Apple services and there are no reported outages/issues for Asia.
How do you know that it effecting 'Almost all hackintosh' ?
iMessage is working fine in the UK, is anybody else in Asia having iMessage issues this morning ?

Have you read through the guide ? .... in summary you could try the following:-

• Clear NVRAM boot args
• Delete nvram.uuid.plist in /extra
• Perform all of Step4 in the guide including the update on 8th Aug
• Reboot - check for new nvram.uuid.plist in /extra and ensure uuid matches sm-uuid (see part 2 of the guide)
• Try iMessage

@All,

Please be aware that there are several AppleID account verification scam eMails doing the rounds at the moment, as always be careful, they are usually pretty easy to spot, if it is not addressed to yourself it is almost certainly a Phishing/Scam email.
View attachment 102153I've received two of these from different sources (bots) in the last two days. The one above is more obviously fake, bad wording, bad logo ... etc. The email i got yesterday looked a little more convincing and contained a valid link to the AppleID help verification page but the link to resolve the so called issue is was false and the same as the example above:-

http://secure-login-to-your-information-to-update-account.fistpay.zcc.bz/

Don't jump to the conclusion that its connected with a iMessage issue (if your suffering from one)

Please be careful, if you receive one of these scam emails forward it to Apples fraud department, more information on what to do and where to forward the email can be found here:-

https://www.apple.com/legal/more-resources/phishing/

Cheers
Jay

Thanks for youring replying my hackintosh was installing on the vmware (virtual mechina) boot by chameleon r2367 FileNVRAM 1.1.3 and i had followed your guid just this 10hours ago I found this problems and show your apple id is xxxxx contact Apple Support
Just 10h ago I used it normally and this time I cann't login and imessage report apple id lockout problem as follows my friends hackintosh cann't login imessage by this problem too.