I had a problem where I was adding names to my iChat buddy list, the name would show up and then it would disappear, could not see the person at all. I do have Chax installed so my Growl notifications would tell that the person was sighing off and on but the iChat Buddy list would give no feedback.
To fix the issue I first went and checked AIM Express to verify that iChat did in fact add that person to my buddy list ( and it did ). Then, I quit iChat, erased all four files in ~/Library/Preferences/:
com.apple.iChat.
com.apple.iChat.SubNet.plist
com.apple.iChat.AIM.plist
com.apple.iChatAgent.plist
Restarted iChat and entered my login and …. it is worked just fine now.
Note: One thing that I did notice is that even though I had added my friend correctly ( who was using Adium ), I still could not ping him. He had to add me first then ping me. This is not the case with iChat users.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Hey! That worked. I should have tried that before, but for some reason my mind just never thinks to do it. Thank you!
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:00 pm
good call, thanks!
January 14th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Thanks for the detailed post, it’s just what I needed. Keep it up.
January 29th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Those files don’t even exist on my computer. I did a full search for filenames containing com.apple.iChat. The files do not even exist all around my computer. Any ideas?
January 29th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Update - when I try to add my friend, it even shows his status for like 5 seconds… the custom msgs like “Making a pile of Ramen” kidna stuff, with the Red dot indicating “away” or wahtever… arrrggghhh.
February 9th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Thank you for this. This helps me immensely… somehow almost all of the buddies I add refuse to show up. This is an immense help. I am afraid though that doing this every time gets annoying because I have to reset all my preferences every time I add a buddy. Isn’t there a way to prevent this from happening? What causes this, anyway?
February 9th, 2008 at 9:14 am
No problem, you should not have to do it every time. Just one time and it should work perfectly after that.
February 9th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I meant to imply that I *have* had to do this every time, not that I expected to. It works for all of the buddies I’ve added but not for the ones I add after I do it. Mnerg.
February 23rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
same as #4 , these files dont even exist on my computer…what should i do?
February 24th, 2008 at 8:18 am
comments #4 and #8. The files have to exist on your computer. If you have launched iChat then they are there. Spotlight or the search box in the finder won’t locate them as they are system files. You have to go into ~/Library/Preferences/ yourself, locate the files and remove them.
Kamran
March 10th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
hm… i looked under my library>preferences but i can’t seem to find the files. I have a bunch of other com.apple.—— but nothing regarding ichat.
sorry, i’m new with mac so i don’t really know what i’m doing.
March 16th, 2008 at 6:43 am
oh, i have a question is that wether people who i add to ichat must be mac member? i mean when i add friends using nick yahoo, i cant add them. How can i do now?
Help me
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:34 pm
#10 Kamran,
The users in (#4, #8) are correct. These files are in the
~/Users/YOURUSERNAME/Library/Preferences/
folder
March 30th, 2008 at 12:56 am
thnjks soooo much it fix my problem work great
April 13th, 2008 at 8:52 am
This did NOT work for me. I removed all com.apple.iChat files in ~/Library/Preferences and the problem still occurs. Unfortunately I have to brand this a fundamental bug in iChat and switch to Adium.
May 26th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
After I found the files it worked! Thanks for the help, this was bothering me
June 19th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
This worked for me! THANK YOU!
June 27th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Nice work dude!!!
July 5th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Thanks so much for posting this! My sister was just having a problem with this on her new MacBook, and it fixed the issue right away! Awesome!!!
July 9th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
#4 #8 #10 #13…. In Linux, ‘~’ stands for your home directory (i.e. Users//), so unless Mac changed that too, the original post is correct. Of course I may be wrong, I’m not a Mac user.
July 9th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
#4 #8 #10 #13…. In Linux, ‘~’ stands for your home directory (i.e. Users/USERNAME/), so unless Mac changed that too, the original post is correct. Of course I may be wrong, I’m not a Mac user.
PS: sorry for re-post, this doesn’t seem to backslash angled brackets.
July 13th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
thanks so much. ive had this problem for a while and it drove me crazy. but the added info about it being under the user file THEn library was also helpful as i couldnt find these files in my library folder on my hard drive
July 24th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Worked great! Thanks so much.
August 4th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Same problem–how frustrating. Your fix worked great. Thanks!
August 10th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Thanks so much guys this was a fantastic help!
August 19th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Every time i try to add a buddy on iChat, it will appear for a second then blink a couple times then disappear. I tried fixing the settings in my preferences, and my iChat settings. It still wont work! Help!
August 26th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Worked for me too. I appreciate the help! My girlfriend was having the same problem.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
This fix worked GREAT! Thanks a lot for posting!
I also had to delete the below files to get it working:
com.apple.iChat.AIM 21-10-57.plist
com.apple.iChat.AIM 22-49-00.plist
com.apple.iChatAgent 22-49-08.plist
September 15th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Finally someone with an answer! Why doesn’t Apple have this posted somewhere? I’ve known a few people with the same issue.
September 20th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Thanks for this, but…
I tried this and deleted all com.apple.ichat files (I found the plist files but not apple.com.ichat).
Then emptied trash and restarted.
I am new to ichat, had entered only two buddy names.
One appeared. I tried to add the other, nothing.
I repeated deleting preferences, empty trash, restart.
Same result.
I am using Mac Os 10.5.4.
The problem began when I installed Aim 4.7, which i thought i needed. i later uninstalled it, but that too did not fix the problem.
Any suggestions appreciated. Thank you.
October 1st, 2008 at 8:21 am
Thanks for the solution.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:45 am
dude… i dont even know how to get to library preferences
October 19th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Finally, someone who can help >_
October 19th, 2008 at 10:38 am
***Finally someone who can help. #28 was right, that worked for me. GJ All!
October 19th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
YAY! Thanks. Worked for me.
November 11th, 2008 at 10:16 am
your my hero!
November 13th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Is everyone that is having this problem a chax user (the original poster and myself are) - if so this is a chax bug and we can bring it up with Keith, if it isn’t one - — maybe he can find a fix and build it into chax anyway!
November 13th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
woops. his name is Kent.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:32 am
worked perfectly!!! thanks alot!
November 21st, 2008 at 10:07 am
I did this and it worked great. Thanks…
Can someone please email me and let me know why the error is happening everytime I add a new buddy. They disappear.
Then I have to go through the steps every time. What is up with that?
Thanks
Sean
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Worked great. Thanks!
November 26th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
thanks so much!!
December 11th, 2008 at 5:09 am
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December 19th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
finally!!
December 26th, 2008 at 7:12 am
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January 2nd, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Thanks. Looked everywhere for a solution. This worked!
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:41 pm
I don’t think the solution is deleting system files
February 6th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
This is a case where a zillion Google hits should be reduced to one: yours. Thanks.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Worked!!!!!! Thnx!!!!!!!
February 27th, 2009 at 8:24 am
To answer someone above, there is a Yahoo Messenger app. for Mac. And there are apps that do all the IM’s, but iChat handles .Mac (or .Me as it is now called) AIM, Jabber & Google.
YOu can have the Yahoo Messenger and the iChat open at the same time though. Get you friends to sign up for a free AIM account. Yahoo is on shaky ground anyway.
March 6th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
I did the AIM expressions but i don’t really get what I am doing after that.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
thank you!
March 12th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Thanks so much!
March 16th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Thanks so much!
March 17th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Thanks! Worked out well.
March 27th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
i went to macintosh hd, went to library, went to preference, but there are no files that u list ed there. wat do i do
April 22nd, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Make sure you go to the Library folder in your Users’ folder… not the one listed under Macintosh HD
May 6th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Thanks so much for posting the iChat fix. I was unable to communicate with my fiancee while she was gone. This so great, I’m grinning from ear to ear.
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Awesome! It worked like a charm, thanks!
August 16th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Thank you. I had the same problem and it was getting REALLY annoying. I tried it and it worked!
September 16th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
I’m having the same problem…I don’t get it these aren’t real links…
/Library/Preferences/:
com.apple.iChat.
com.apple.iChat.SubNet.plist
com.apple.iChat.AIM.plist
com.apple.iChatAgent.plist
September 16th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
They are files on your file system.