[Anjana]

I'm running iChat AV (3.1.5) on a MacBook with OS X Tiger (10.4.7). And from how it's treating me, it seems I've done something to piss it off.

I've had this computer for a few months, and for a while had absolutely no problems with iChat - both regular text chatting and video worked fine at first.

Then video and audio chatting stopped working; every time I tried, I would "fail to connect" or "fail to respond." I gathered from the Apple website and forums like this that the problem could probably be solved by opening certain ports, but at the time I was on a college network and didn't have any control over its router or firewall, so I just lived without video chat. No biggie, and text chat still worked fine.

Then I got my own private internet connection, and hoped that the problem would go away. But no. And even when I set the router to open the ports Apple had recommended, audio and video chatting still didn't work. Except now, instead of the "failed to respond" message, I got a different error, this one saying that there was "not enough bandwidth available" or something to that effect. I found that strange, considering that no-one else was on the network and I myself was only using an internet browser, and iChat, not downloading anything or using up lots of bandwidth in any other way.

But before I could even begin to sort through this new problem, iChat stopped working altogether. Now, whenever I start iChat, one of two things happens. Either it signs me in for less than 1 second, then signs me off and says "Lost connection to AIM: The connection with the host was unexpectedly lost," or it shows that I'm logged in and "available," but shows ALL of the contacts in my buddy list as offline (which is not actually the case). Thinking that it might be a wireless-related problem, I tried plugging in an ethernet cable: no change.

So now I'm at a complete loss, and I need your help. Any and all thoughts or ideas would be most appreciated!!!

Thanks,
Anjana

[Emmerac]

You can delve into your troubles by going through the individual firewall settings, but that can take some time. You should also try deleting all your default connections in Sys Pref > Networking and recreating them.

I hate to say it but I think the easiest solution is to back up your files, format your hard drive and restore your computer.

[Anjana]

Thanks for the suggestion, Emmerac... I tried deleting and recreating all my network connections, but that didn't change anything.

But then I tried to sign on while using a different wireless network, and lo and behold, it connected. I dont' know if the audio/video chat works on this other network, but at least regular chatting does. So I guess that means it's a problem with my network, not with my computer?? Not that that means I'm any closer to a solution... but at any rate it would be comforting to know that I don't need to reformat my two-month-old hard drive!

So now I guess my question is: does anyone know what I should do to my home wifi network to make iChat work on it???

Thanks

[Emmerac]

Before you go and spend any of your own money, I would get your internet provider to come and replace the modem, it very well may be the source of your problem. I ran into a problem once, where a cable modem would not upload any data except for burst; so it seemed as if the modem was not the problem.

If that doesn't work then try replacing your router or barrow one from a friend to try.

Good Luck

[caricosmith]

my ichat has worked sporadically since i bought it one month ago.
Andana described my experience exactly, and i followed the same path of logic she did to try to remedy the problem. finally last night i got an AIM account and suddenly everything seemed to workd as it did when it was new. i even videoed with someone in paris today. but now, after a simple shut down, i get that nasty message: connection to the host was unexpectedly lost.

has anyone cracked this nut yet?

i spoke to applecare last week and it seemed like they had never heard of the problem before.

help?

[dspablo]

I got my macbook in june of 2006 and I recently have started having the same experience and likewise applecare seems to have never heard of this problem when i spoke with them. I can not seem to find any other solutions to this problem and I am not about to reformat my harddrive when my computer is only 6 months old. Does anybody have any other suggestions?

[danmcman]

I've had my Macbook since thanksgiving, and have noticed similar sporadic video chat problems with iChat, while on certain networks, and while trying to connect to AIM users (never had problems connecting to friends with macs running iChat). You might both try making sure that the firmware is updated on your router. I've seen weird things with some wireless routers, particularly the Linksys WRT300N, and of course the 54g.

[hollyd333]

I had the same problems on my macbook pro until i changed the port from 5190 to 5191. it was not a problem with my service provider or the router or my computer. go to iChat > Preferences > Accounts > Server Settings and change the port from 5190 to 5191. It's worked for me so far.

[PuckJones]

Had same problem when trying to use iChat on cable-based wifi (had not experienced that with DSL) -- BUT, the switch to 5191 was magic. Thanks for the tip.

[INeedGmail!!]

I'm having difficulty opening up video and audio on iChat... I can speak with text , but that is insufficient for me. I am not familiar on how to open up ports or which ports to open.. can someone walk me through?

appreciate your help in advance.

[SectorIT]

hi,

try adium its free www.adium.com then download and mount then install, its for temporary. As a short term solution, once you can chat go ahead and chat and ask your friends, but if the adium wont work also then the issue is not isolated with iChat it maybe in your network preferences, try checking sharing and firewall settings and iChat must be uncheck or in the internet built-in ethernet must be uncheck.
but make sure you have an IP address first.