Ichat 3.0.9 to ichat 5.0.3 connection problems

Question

Hi, situation as follows:
Mac A : iMac G4 17" (domed body) running OS 10.4.11 and iChat 3.0.9 with external iSight camera
Mac B : iMac G5 20" running 10.6.6 and iChat 5.0.3
When Mac A tries to call Mac B, a window pops up showing the cameras view of the user in front of Mac A, with an accompanying message of waiting for Mac B user to respond but unfortunately Mac B never receives the ring.
When Mac B tries to call Mac A, a window pops up showing the cameras view of the user in front of Mac B, with an accompanying message of waiting for Mac A user to respond. In this case Mac A gets the ringing and answers the call and 'Accepts'. Unfortunately after a few moments Mac A gets a 'connection error' message, ending with the choice of whether to send the problem to Apple or not. Mac A video picture freezes. At Mac B, camera continues to show Mac B user, with the message of 'waiting for Mac A user to respond'.
Can anyone give some advice.
Robert
FYI. I brought the two mac beside each other and used Bonjour and everything work fine.

Answer 1

Hi,
Did you try both computers at the same Location with their AIM or Jabber names ?
(I presume that at the moment that they are at different locations)
From this page add the six Screen Names shown in Table 1 to the AIM (Valid) Buddy Lists on Both computers.
Can both computers contact those Auto Responders ?
(I have no Auto Responders for a Jabber Buddy List to use)
On Mac A
Go to System Preferences > Quicktime > Streaming tab and set the speed to 1.5Mbps (T1/Intranet/LAN) as the Automatic and LAN/Intranet options are not read by iChat properly.
Restart iChat on this computer.
(This allows it to make the best use of the Internet connection)
In System Preferences > Sharing > Firewall do this:-
http://www.ralphjohns.co.uk/iChatPicsFolder/6%20iChat%20Ports/slides/3iChat_Ports_Firewall-SelectTAB.html (Use the red arrows above the pics to proceed to the next pic)
They may also need to open or allow ports in their Router
Post back with Make and Model plus Version number for more specific info.
Basically use UPnP if you/they have it or open all those ports listed in the last pic from the link using Port Forwarding.
On Mac B
If the Firewall Is ON they go to the Advanced Button and Enable Allow Signed apps and Add ichat to the list
(The firewall is In System Preferences > Security > Firewall (It moved in 10.5.x)
There is no Quicktime setting for this computer
In iChat > Preferences > Video section set the Bandwidth Limit to 500kbps (iChat does not need to be restarted)
iChat 5 "Sees" the whole of the Internet Speed you/they have.
This means you can send much more data more quickly to Slower Buddies.
There is evidence that iChat 4.x cannot always buffer the Video fast enough when it come from iChat 5 on a fast connection. (There also seems to be some correlation with this in getting connected in the first place where iChat 5 thinks the other end has not responded (possibly "quick enough"). )
Check the router at this end as well.
The Log that pops up on Machine A and B can be expanded (old ones are stored in Home Folder/Library/Logs/iChatConnectionErrors )
I could do with seeing these (At least down to the Line that reads "Binary Images for iChat" - the bits below that tell us nothing at this stage)
The type of Error code listed near the top paragraph can give clues as to what the issue is:-
Error 22 Speed issue somewhere.
Error 7 and 10 (No Data for 10 Secs tends to be a Router issue - Excessive features getting in the way)
Error 8 is a bit of a catch all but can be about ports in the router.
There are other codes as well but these are the most common.
NOTE Error 7 and 10 can have a different message to the one I quoted.
POrts for ichat 4 and 5
||iChat Ports||TCP||UDP||
|AIM|5190|5190|
|A/V|none|5678, 16393-16402|
|Bonjour|5298|5297, 5298, 5353|
|Jabber|5220,5222, 5223|none|
Note this is the iChat 4 and 5 Range
Add port 5060 UDP for iChat 2 and 3 and extend the group of 10 to 16384-16403 (20 ports)
iChat 4 and 5 also uses an undeclared Random port to do the Screen Sharing part and works if you can and do use UPnP (Or Port Mapping Protocol) to open ports in your routing device.
Hope this helps.
10:35 PM Monday; January 17, 2011
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"