Ralph Johns UK

iChat FAQs: Help with Apple's iChat

Pacifist and iChat

Pacifist and iChat

What to do When Things go Drastically Wrong.

This page was constructed with Information Posted in the Apple Discussions iChat FAQs by Ryan M. iChat 3
For iChat 3 see the bottom of the page. You will have to use the information in the top section and transpose it for the Tiger version if you want to reinstall the InstantMessage.framework or VideoConference.framework folders. Please Note that InstantMessage.framework folder belongs in a different place in Tiger.

Pacifist

What you can do if you need to re-install iChat ver 2.0 from your Panther install disks.

Ok. You have played about with iChat. You have been to the Apple Discussion Pages for iChat but it still does not work properly. You have been to the Trouble Shooting page within this web site but there is no fix. The answer is to reinstall the Application.

If you need to reinstall the InstantMessage.framework folder that contains iChatAgent or the Smilies you will need slightly different locations of the required folder to those listed first.

Pacifist is a utility used for extracting install disk files. Here are the instruction if you need to reinstall iChat version 2 from the Panther install disks.

Thanks to Ryan M, who posted this on the Apple Discussion Pages. It is now also an FAQ in the Apple iChat FAQs. Ryan has expanded the FAQ to include which type of Panther disks you have. You need Pacifist (link below) and your Panther install disks handy.

Download Pacifist

Instructions for Application Reinstall

Use this when the Application does not launch properly and there are "Broken Pipe" messages reported when you force iChat to run in the Terminal application.

Put in Install Disk 1 into the CD-ROM drive.

When it loads, hit the "Open Mac OS X Install Packages" on Pacifist.
It later prompts to insert Disk 2, and then Disk 3.
Follow directions.
After that, it asks once more for Disk 1. So, insert it again.
Then a window opens up.

Go to the following directory:
Contents of OSInstall.mpkg
Contents of EssentialSystemSoftware.mpkg
Contents of Essentials.pkg
Applications
iChat.app
Then you can either install or extract to the place you want it on your computer.

Instructions For InstantMessage.framework folder

Use this when having problems with Add-On smilie packs or corrupt InstantMessage.framework errors reported in the Console logs.

Ok, using the same method you used to reinstall iChat with Pacifist, here's how to reinstall the InstantMessage.framework folder.

Once the discs are loaded into Pacifist,
navigate to Contents of
OSInstall.mpkg/Contents of EssentialSystemSoftware.mpkg/Contents of BaseSystem.pkg/Contents of Essentials.pkg/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/InstantMessage.framework.
NOTE: The bold text above is all one path to the folder concerned.

Move this file to your /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks folder.

At this point it will be worth while Repairing Permissions and deleting the .plists for iChat before restarting it.

Repeat For VideoConference.framework folder

Repeat the above instructions for the folder VideoConference.framework



And now for the iChat 3 version

iChat 3

iChat 3 and Pacifist

Firstly iChat 3 does not place the InstantMessage.framework folder in the same place as it is in iChat 2.x.

It is in System/Library/Frameworks instead.

VideoConference.framework is in the same place on the hard drive as it was in Pather/iChat2.x

Once again Ryan M. has posted an FAQ: How do I reinstall iChatAV 3.x? on this subject.

For those who do not want to lose their place on these pages:

This is for the Tiger upgrade discs only. To reinstall iChatAV 2.x on Panther, see this FAQ: for iChat 2.x (This is the Apple Dicussions link to the iCHat 2 version above).

How do I reinstall iChatAV 3.x?


This is for the Tiger upgrade discs only. To reinstall iChatAV 2.x on Panther, see this FAQ.

The Easy Way:
Insert your Tiger DVD into your drive. Once the DVD loads, open the "Optional Installs" package. Click through until you get the option of choosing what you'd like to install. Under the "Applications" drop down menu in the panel of software to install, simply choose iChatAV and let the installer do the work. Next, scroll down to "Possible Problems" below.

The Hard Way:
Download Pacifist. Insert the Tiger install DVD into the drive and open Pacifist. Click the "Open Mac OS X Install Packages" button on Pacifist. This will load the DVD.

Once the DVD has loaded, there is a list of the contents from the DVD. Navigate to: Contents of OS Install/Contents of iChat/Applications/ . This is where iChat.app is located and what will need to be extracted/installed to your computer. Alternatively, you may perform a search on the directory listing with 'iChat.'

Once the iChatAV application is found, highlight/select it and extract it to the computer by clicking "Extract to" or "Install". Be sure to install iChatAV to the /Applications/ folder on your hard drive (not your user folder). Repair permissions after the reinstallation just to prevent any quirky behavior by using Disk Utility located in /Applications/Utilities/. Then you should be all set to use iChatAV 3.0. Be sure to update to the latest version, as noted below.

Possible Problems:
If problems still persist, you might find it worthwhile to reinstall the InstantMessage.framework folder (/System/Library/Framworks) and VideoConference.framework folder (/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks). You can reinstall either/both of these folders by modeling the steps in "The Hard Way" noted above except just reinstall the folders and not the iChat.app application. You will need Pacifist for this procedure.

Upgrade
After completing the reinstallation of iChatAV, download the latest version of iChat that is included with the latest version of the OS, 10.4.x. Good luck!

IMPORTANT!! Edit: Note on the Update paragraph above. This needs one more stage if your OS is at 10.4.2 or above. If you have updated to 10.4.2 (Or Above) and then reinstalled iChat, then iChat is back to iChat 3.0 (or the version that came on your Install DVD) and needs the Relevant Combo Update. This link is to a Search at Apple for Combo Updates Here)

Should you have difficulty with such things as Smiley Packs or can not find any other way to sort out iChat and need the other two folders, you will have to read the instructions for the extraction in iChat 2.x above, making allowences for the folder placement, both on the install DVD and where they go on your hard drive.


HAPPY CHATTING


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© 2005 Ralph Johns: Edited 24/9/2005, 5/5/2006
Updated September 2006. Moved to Gargoyles and edited Mar 2007

Information Column

Like what the title says. How to Reinstall iChat.

Yes, unfortunately, it happens. iChat gets to the point where deleting the .plist (See page 9) does not get over the problems of iChat not working.

In this case, rather than reinstall the whole OS just to sort out one application then Pacifist for iChat 2 and, in some cases for iChat 3, can be used to gain access to the Install Disk(s) and extract and install this one application and sometimes it's support folders. Ryan has called this the "Hard Way" in the iChat 3 one as it is so much easier to extract just the Application from an Tigger (10.4.x) Install DVD

Setting Up iChat

Router Set Up Section

Trouble Shooting, Info & Add-ons

Other Pages within this Site

iChat 3 & EZ Jim's iSight Stuff

Links to Other Sites

Other iChat Help Sites