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iMessage and FaceTime - misbehaving again!


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If only he'd used what was provided as an installer package a topic like this would be needed. The serials are gashed because the placeholder plist I use is being populated with valid data only at postinstall. The MLB can be 17 characters since it's the same thing as board serial, but serial number for older Macs was 12 characters, newer use new structure and it's indeed 13. Injecting system Id is not a problem either. It works like this on all of my machines. And I have zero issues with FaceTime/Messages on this very same netbook running Yosemite DP5...

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Fusion, This seems to confirm something I said back then, and was promptly dismissed as FUD, that the authentication protocol changes were a little jab at people accessing their servers from ilegimate hardware, that is, at us. Back then, the optimistic rebuttal was it was a simply change for a safer authentication protocol, conveniently forgetting that the steps taken to supposedly make it safer were not the kind of what would make an individual's Apple ID harder to crack (like stricter ID checks, passwords etc) but of what would make harder for an individual's use his/her legitimate Apple ID (previously created on an iDevice or even a Mac) to enjoy their iCloud services without buying a Mac. Indeed, a change for a safer protocol: safer for their servers, from us. QED.

 

If it was not enough, they just got the way the check was being circumvented and circunvented the circumvention, lol. I wouldn't doubt a black market of real Mac MLBs, ROMs and serials end up developing itself if this stricter check isn't, forgive me the lousy pun, put in check. Is not like Apple is cracking down on OSX86 - they're definitely not! - but be sure they don't want it to become easy enough to make a real Mac an eccentricity of high-income geeks. They will do the best they can short of a TPM. Remember, AppleMobileFileIntegrity.kext is on OS X now.

 

P.S.: as for Clover configuration, I don't use it because Clover developers recommend not to.

 

 

 

If only he'd used what was provided as an installer package a topic like this would be needed. The serials are gashed because the placeholder plist I use is being populated with valid data only at postinstall. The MLB can be 17 characters since it's the same thing as board serial, but serial number for older Macs was 12 characters, newer use new structure and it's indeed 13. Injecting system Id is not a problem either. It works like this on all of my machines. And I have zero issues with FaceTime/Messages on this very same netbook running Yosemite DP5...

Walker, I made this topic after a DP update broke messages for me (not only on the 1201N) even though I have previously followed your procedure ipsis literis. Don't take offense, I'm not saying your guide is flawed or incomplete (otherwise I wouldn't cheer about it in all related topics), rather not infallible (like any thing under the sun, if you allow me petty philosophy). Since I used your support package, I haven't touched my EFI folder, until I lost the services. I could waste my time and your patience trying to find out why did it happen, but decided to solve it in a way it won't happen again, which seems to be the promise of this solution Fusion gave me, and try and understand Clover, instead of being spoonfed a pre-made fix. It's a win-win. No offense, I repeat: I do admire your work.
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Hi again!

 

As an experiment, I backed up my config.plist from my 1201N, wiped the entire EFI folder from its EFI partition, deleted also the boot file, and reinstalled everything from scratch following (again) TimeWalker's guide, using his updated package installer, as per this post:             #7            

 

I immediately lost the ability of log in to both iMessage and FaceTime. Same symptoms I was experiencing when I created this topic. So I can safely say Walker's guide and tools, regardless how well designed both of them are, don't address iMessage and FaceTime issues, at least on Yosemite. He reports having both services working fine, and that's good, but it seems it was mostly luck, for the fact of old ways of enabling iMessage and FaceTime are still working for him. Unfortunately, that's not true for a growing number of people. For them, including me, Fusion/El Nono solution of including certain legitimate serials seems to be the only hope for now. As soon as I put back my backed up config.plist and restarted the computer, I recovered my ability to log in to both services.

 

All the best!

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Sure .. pure luck...

 

Your Apple ID (xxx) was used to sign in to FaceTime and iMessage on a MacBook Air 13" named “ION MacBook Air”.

 

Date and Time: August 6, 2014, 11:35 AM PDT

 

Operating System: Mac OS X,10.10,14A314h

 

If you recently signed in to this device, you can disregard this email.

 

 

Perhaps the issue lies in the post installation script, it may be generating improper serials, but how do you explain my serials being valid if they were generated by same script. But then again, I have pushed 4 iterations of my package for Vostro and Inspiron and nobody ever told me voodoo daemon is not being installed in the right place ... The script can be found in Resources/postflight in 1201 project on my git (account name Dolnor). See if you can locate the culprit...

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Pure luck in the sense you can count on fingers the people which can actually log out and in to FaceTime or iMessage with the old method nowadays, that is, non-registered serials, ROM and MLB.

 

Apple changes the way it checks authentication, Walker: I'm not debating this, because it's a proven fact. It's not your tool's fault it doesn't work for me: it's Apple's. Cool it's still working for you, and I hope it keeps that way because I can tell I had a bad time until I realized what was going on and decided to ask for help.

 

All the best!

 

P.S.: I'll surely will take a look at the post installation script, but out of pure curiosity: as I told you, the culprit is already found. :)

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Highly doubt it is. I logged in to messages and FaceTime on that day for the first time (the day DP5 for released) on this netbook. Previously it has only been linked to iCloud.

 

I can log in and out on my DELL too, where same approach is used, only different serial length because it's a newer machine.

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@theconnactic,

 

I think the bottom line is that Apple are trying to prevent "free loaders" from using their premium services like iMessage & Facetime.  The only proven ways to get iMessage working on a hack (once the basics such as ethernet is set to en0, NVRAM made functioning) are

 

1. Using working serials from a real Mac (Apple Support validated hackintosh also works)

2. Adding a credit card to your Apple ID

 

Both of these conditions mean that you have proven to Apple that you are a paying customer and are registered.

 

The advantage of the first method is that you don't need a credit card, you can apply the serials to any machine and you can still login and logout using any Apple ID - even one without an attached credit card.

 

As an experiment

1.  Create a new AppleID without attaching any credit card

2.  Logout of iMessages on your current account

3.  Login to iMessages using your new ID and see if it works :wink_anim:

 

PS I agree with you that Apple is not trying to totally prevent us from running our hacks (otherwise they could just block FakeSMC.kext instead of placing it in their kext exclude list)....they won't mind unless hacks can easily be made to function 100% like Macs by novices ie they don't mind technical experts like those on this forum to "try before buying" :).

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In case of MLB I don't think your suggestion about it being 6 characters long instead of 17 would result in *valid* data.

AnV just posted his MBP8,1 dump, which has the following board number: C021482021**TMYAJ (I've covered 2 chars just in case). 

I don't think Apple would go stripping down serial numbers down to 6 chars when putting vars from SMBIOS to NVRAM.. 

Same goes for ROM - since it's a MAC address variable, why would it be 6 chars? Besides, Clover automatically parses it from Ethernet adapter and puts it as a var into NVRAM.

 

Edit: 

Sorry, disregard that .. I'm still sleepy :D it was ERROR NOTICED, not suggested structure.

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Edit 2:

 

Just tried the script which is responsible for number generation .. it properly produces 11 character number for Air2,1 and MLB/Board numbers that are 17 chars long. The data type can be either string or data - it doesn't matter, Clover can parse both. BUT! I've found that it had a flaw .. it was generating week number using chars, while older 11 character formats used 2 numbers to indicate week number the machine was produced.... Correcting the issue and going to selfsolve page now results in "We're sorry, the number you have provided cannot be found in our records." when checking a generated number. Message simply meaning that a machine with such a number was never registered in Apple Care. I will push an update to the package when I find a way to elegantly limit it to 52 week range ;D

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Walker, Fusion did not suggest a 6 character MLB: he thought I was using a six character MLB, because I posted 6 "*" instead of my own MLB to illustrate my config.plist structure.

 

Okay, your script did have a flaw, but I was having the same issue with my Desktop, for which I had used both Champlist and Chameleon Wizard to generate the serials. Once I put my MBP's, problem solved! :)

 

Fusion, I do have a valid credit card registered with my Apple ID, yet I cannot log in to iMessage or FaceTime with any automatically generated serial anymore. I'm one of the unlucky ones that need real Mac serials since Apple tightened the grip. So it's safe to say method 1 is better than 2.

 

All the best!

P.S.: Walker, just noticed your disregard notice: disregard that part of my post.

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I'll give a try using my mac mini info but I also would like to know about this " package v1.2 " you're talking about. What is it?

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Oh, okay. Thanks for the answer.

 

I'll try the solution mentioned here regarding MLB and ROM and other stuff.

 

EDIT: Using MLB and ROM like described before, iMessage worked.

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@theconnactic,

 

Yes, you can use the serials from the MBP.

 

The crucial values, ROM & MLB, must be genuine and from the same Mac (I also use the same 12 Digit System Serial from my mac mini but I'm being careful).  The SmUUID for the hack can be unique and different from the Mac's.

 

Applying MLB & ROM to the "RT Variables" section in Clover (and MLB in Main Board Serial key in SMBIOS section of config.plist) ----> your hack will show the same model in the "About this Mac" screen as the "donor" Mac but since everything else in the SMBIOS section is correct, then Clover uses the appropriate SMBIOS for power management, sleep etc.

 

PS Why don't you create a Clover boot USB and boot into your Mavericks/chameleon install?  Just find the system-ID, ROM & MLB of the chameleon install like I explained in my procedure  and use them in the appropriate sections of Clover's config.plist on your USB.  Run the iMessage-debug tool to confirm that all the variables are the same when booting with Clover :).

 

Hi,

 

I have a Macbook Pro 13 Retina 2013 model. I've got the numbers from it I need but before I try this would there be any issues with using them on my Yosemite (maybe even on my Mavericks install as well) installation? I have no issues on my Mavericks install but the ROM numbers all read as "00000000000......etc). I tried inputting all the other numbers on my Clover install of Yosemite but I still can't get iMessage to sign in. I'm assuming it's because of the ROM "000000000" issue but I'm kinda confused as to why it works on Mavericks using Chameleon.

 

Cheers

 

EDIT....

 

I guess I spoke too soon about everything all working in Mavericks. After reading this thread I decided to see if I could log out and back in to iMessage in Mavericks but now I can't log back in. I wonder why it was even working the first place? Weird.

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@clipper99,

 

The serials from your MBP will have no issue working on any OSX on any machine (if the procedure is done properly and NVRAM is working on your hack) :).

 

The generated serials from your Mavericks hack obviously won't work if ROM is invalid....It only worked originally since the checks were not as rigorous a while ago.

 

Let us know how you go with the genuine serials :).

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@clipper99,

 

The serials from your MBP will have no issue working on any OSX on any machine (if the procedure is done properly and NVRAM is working on your hack) :).

 

The generated serials from your Mavericks hack obviously won't work if ROM is invalid....It only worked originally since the checks were not as rigorous a while ago.

 

Let us know how you go with the genuine serials :).

Hmmmm, not working...so far! :)

 

I've triple-checked the numbers, rebooted and run the imessage_debug and confirmed that the numbers I entered into Clover Configurator tool are correct. My system report tells me I have a Macbook Pro even though I started with an iMac 12,2 system definition :).

 

So I'm *assuming* my NVRAM is working, I have the flag "InjectSystemID" set for "YES" in the config.plist.

 

I'm using Clover 2818 installed for UEFI booting only, in the EFI partition of my Yosemite drive. RC scripts are installed (read somewhere I needed them).

 

iCloud, iTunes Match, Appstore...all work but iMessage is just spinning away and not connecting.

 

Scratching head...... :)

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Try using Clover r2795.  The latest Clover revisions tend to be buggy and may have many undiscovered problems....

 

Also what is the output of imessage_debug when it is run on your hack?  If everything is done correctly, the outputs should be the same as when running imessage_debug on your Mac....

 

You can upload the output (obviously hashing out some/all the characters in your serials) - I want to see the output from the IOPowervariables...

 

Edit

 

Glad you got it working :).

 

A common mistake is that many people assume that "new" software revisions are always better.  I still have Mavericks and only test the latest Clover builds on my FAT32 Clover boot USB.  I only migrate this to my main hard drive when it has proven itself to be stable.

 

Out of interest, I noticed your hashed MLB in the post below was 12 characters instead of 17.  Is your MLB from your Mac 17 characters?

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Try using Clover r2795.  The latest Clover revisions tend to be buggy and may have many undiscovered problems....

 

Also what is the output of imessage_debug when it is run on your hack?  If everything is done correctly, the outputs should be the same as when running imessage_debug on your Mac....

 

You can upload the output (obviously hashing out some/all the characters in your serials) - I want to see the output from the IOPowervariables...

I'll try out r2795 and report back in a few. Here's the results, and the numbers match from my genuine Macbook Pro.

I'll try out r2795 and report back in a few. Here's the results, and the numbers match from my genuine Macbook Pro.

:blush:  :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush:

 

Well, DON'T USE R2818 IF YOU WANT IMESSAGE TO WORK!!!!!

 

r2795 did the trick. I've been schooled...stop living on the hemorrhaging-edge!  

 

Thank you!

 

Out of interest, I noticed your hashed MLB in the post below was 12 characters instead of 17.  Is your MLB from your Mac 17 characters?

 

No, my bad. It is 17.

 

Regards

insanelymac.rtf

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  • 4 weeks later...

@theconnactic,

 

Are you able to logout and log back in successfully to iMessages in Mavericks with no problems?

 

Can you run the imessage_debug tool in Mavericks and then run in Yosemite and compare the outputs? The values for MLB, ROM, IOPlatformUUID and IOPlatformSerialNumber should be identical between the two OS if everything is set up properly....

 

 

@ekica,

 

Are you sure you had iMessages (the Apple variety) working in Yosemite with Chameleon?  I remember your screenshot in this post was JabberIM with Google talk :).

 

I ran the debug tool.  I have no problems with iMessage etc.  I just want to be clear on some of these terms (Acronyms)  and the naming in Clover's SMbios/iMessage debug tool output.  MLB=BoardSerialNumber? IOPlatformUUID=SmUUID=Hardware UUID?  IOPlatformSerialNumber=SerialNumber?  Rom=Rom?  System-ID=System-ID?  Board-id=Board-id?  Custom UUID =Custom UUID?

 

I am looking at the report from the debug and the fields in Clover's Smbios and trying to correlate them.

 

Thanks

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@oSxFr33k,

 

Pretty much....my detailed illustrated procedure in post#99 of the AIO guides.

 

Essentially MLB ---> MLB &/or BoardSerialNumber

                  ROM ---> ROM

                  PlatformSerialNumber ---> Serial Number

                  system-id ---> CustomUUID and set inject System ID to true

Optional: PlatformUUID=HardwareUUID ---> SmUUID

                board-id ---> ""

                product-name ---> ""

 

Also try v2 of the tool which might be easier to read the values off.

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  • 2 months later...

@oSxFr33k,

 

Pretty much....my detailed illustrated procedure in post#99 of the AIO guides.

 

Essentially MLB ---> MLB &/or BoardSerialNumber

                  ROM ---> ROM

                  PlatformSerialNumber ---> Serial Number

                  system-id ---> CustomUUID and set inject System ID to true

Optional: PlatformUUID=HardwareUUID ---> SmUUID

                board-id ---> ""

                product-name ---> ""

 

Also try v2 of the tool which might be easier to read the values off.

Thanks for the clear up.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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