Ichat and messages aren't communicating on bonjour network

Question

Hi there...i've been searching for some help to my question but haven't found it.
This is the problem.
at my office we have some Macs running ichat with snow leopard and other ones running messages with maverick.
When we try to chat between us, we can do it only if we are using the same app/os even when we can
see all the colleagues on the bonjour network...
to be more clear...
everyone is visible on buddy list, either we have ichat or message installed...
computer A running messages and maverick can send and receive messages to/from computer B running also messages and maverick  and viceversa
computer C running ichat and snow leopard can send and receive messages to/from computer D running also ichat and snow leopard and viceversa
computer A/B (messages/maverick) cannot send or receive messages from computers C/D (ichat/snow leopard) and viceversa
hope there is a solution out there, thanks in advance for any help...

Answer 1

Hi,
Let me see if I have understood you correctly.
No matter what OS version or Messages or iChat Version all the Buddies show in each other's Buddy lists ?
Despite this only Mavericks with Messages 8 to Mavericks and Messages 8 will work with each and the same for Snow Leopard and iChat 5 based computers ?
What is not working in Mavericks to Snow Leopard (which is Messages to iChat 5) ?
Separate from using the iChat and Messages app do all the  computers appear in the Finders Side Bar for Computer "Shares" ?
I have a NAS drive which uses Mac's AFP protocol and the Windows SMB protocol AND it can be set to be  Time Machine Backup place and can do Bonjour Shares. (it appears 4 times in my list)
In addition to that I have my two other computers turned On (MacBook Pro and a G4)
This would tend to imply that the computers are all in the same part of the LAN (If the router has the IP of 192.168.0.1 only the last number should be different for all the computers)
My Computer is using WiFi (it's Airport card) to connect to the network.
The router is using the 192.168.0.x group as can be seen by the computer getting IP 192.168.0.17 in this pic
The Subnet mask should also be the same across all computers.
In addition no two computers should have the Same Name.
When I set up my computers I tend to use  my own name so each computer then gets called "Ralph Johns's Computer"  (it can't cope properly with the s at the end of my surname)
AS you can see from the Pic Above I have changed my Older G4 computer to be called "Ralphs' G4" and my Laptop to "Ralph Johns MacBook Pro"
These "Names" for the computers are also close to the names I use on the Address Cards for myself on those computers.
i.e. on the G4 the My Card in the Address Book list "Ralph G4" as my name.  (My MacBook Pro does have me as Ralph Johns)
On my iMac I am posting from (Mavericks) I can called Ralph Johns-iMac in my Address Card.
It is these names in the My Card (Address book and Contacts list on each computer) that gives the Bonjour Buddy list the names of the Buddies.
Therefore I can see my MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard/iChat 5 and the G4 Leopard/iChat 4) in the Bonjour Buddy list.
To summarise the last section.
The computers AND the Address Card for the Mac user on that computer needs to be different in each case.
The Computer names show in the Shared items in the Finder's Side Bar and then the Address Book/Contacts Name appears as the Buddy in the list.
My iMac uses the Sig Pic I use here as the buddy pic.  The G4 using Leopard and iChat 4 uses the Leopard skin looking pic and the photo one is used on my Snow Leopard/iChat 5 computer.
I have moused over the "Buddy" Ralph Johns to bring up the info panel also in the pic to show it is from my MacBook Pro which shows the computer name plays a part in this.
Cloning computers before upgrading them or even Cloning a Mac User account from one computer to another will cause issue if the Computer names  or the My Card details are not changed.
I normally use mine for transferring Pics  but I have also Texted between iChat 5 and Messages 8 today.
I hope this helps you find out which settings may need changing.
9:10 pm      Thursday; August 21, 2014
​  iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad