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Sneakz

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 17, 2008
1,224
347
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
So I did a clean install of OS X 10.11.4 this afternoon but for whatever reason, I can't sign in to iMessage. Other devices sign in just fine including another Mac, but not my rMBP. Would anyone happen to know why?
 

ifraaank

macrumors regular
Jun 25, 2012
193
11
Odense C, Denmark
Same here!!! Both my rMBP and my cMP.. iMessage as well as FaceTime, and I haven't found a workaround yet. I thought I was the only one... I also did a clean install
 

Alrescha

macrumors 68020
Jan 1, 2008
2,156
317
The one reliable way (for me) to fix this is to sign out of iCloud completely and then sign back in. I have not found any other way to solve this problem.

A.
 

devsfan1830

macrumors regular
Aug 26, 2011
153
105
VA
Im having the same problem. I tried another clean install and it still wont let me log in. I can log into icloud just fine, just not imessage and facetime. Tried logging out and back into icloud and it hasnt worked. Been back and forth with Apple's Support Twitter and so far no workaround yet. They seem baffled by this as well. Since I clean installed and dont do time machine backups I cant roll back to 10.11.3. If you guys have issues too then it looks like theres a bug in this update.
 

Sneakz

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 17, 2008
1,224
347
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Judging by the posts I'm also seeing on Apple Community Forums, it's probably something on Apple's end. Upgrading from 10.11.3 to 10.11.4 doesn't exhibit this issue.
 

superstrikertwo

macrumors 65816
Jun 9, 2008
1,096
100
California
Also having issues. Tried to reinstall from a drive I still had 10.11.3 on and I couldn't get past logging into iCloud during system setup.
 

superstrikertwo

macrumors 65816
Jun 9, 2008
1,096
100
California
Was on call with Apple for about 2 hours and got escalated all the way to the engineering team. So They're for sure aware of the problem now. They said they'd call me when they know more.
 

devsfan1830

macrumors regular
Aug 26, 2011
153
105
VA
Was on call with Apple for about 2 hours and got escalated all the way to the engineering team. So They're for sure aware of the problem now. They said they'd call me when they know more.

Good to know. Twitter support exhausted all options and game me a case # to get on with phone support. Don't have time to sit on the phone for something I primarily use my phone for. Plus I'm WELL out of warranty so I'd prefer to avoid support call charges. Given the volume of people on the Apple Community Forums i'm sure a fix will happen at sometime. Let us know if they call you back.
 

mustgroove

macrumors regular
Aug 14, 2006
203
12
So far I've tried resetting NVRAM (no luck), as well as resetting NVRAM, booting into Safe mode, and trying to log into Messages from there... both of them were unsuccessful.

One thing I will mention - I have 2 factor authorisation on my Apple ID, so the 1st time I tried logging into Messages after I installed 10.11.4, it asked for a 2 factor authorisation code to be sent to my phone... the phone received a code OK, and when I entered it into Messages, it just hung. Every subsequent time I try to log in, I don't even get that far, it just doesn't accept the login
[doublepost=1458741928][/doublepost]One further symptom - in the iCloud prefpane in System Preferences, Find My Mac is enabled, however when I log into icloud.com and click through to "Find My iPhone", it lists my mac as "Offline", so something's wrong there too.
 

Tamagotchi

macrumors 6502
Jun 13, 2013
369
412
Same here... Can't log in after clean install.

BTW: rMBP mid 2012, i7 8GB, 512 SSD, Gforce 650M.
 

devsfan1830

macrumors regular
Aug 26, 2011
153
105
VA
So far I've tried resetting NVRAM (no luck), as well as resetting NVRAM, booting into Safe mode, and trying to log into Messages from there... both of them were unsuccessful.

One thing I will mention - I have 2 factor authorisation on my Apple ID, so the 1st time I tried logging into Messages after I installed 10.11.4, it asked for a 2 factor authorisation code to be sent to my phone... the phone received a code OK, and when I entered it into Messages, it just hung. Every subsequent time I try to log in, I don't even get that far, it just doesn't accept the login
[doublepost=1458741928][/doublepost]One further symptom - in the iCloud prefpane in System Preferences, Find My Mac is enabled, however when I log into icloud.com and click through to "Find My iPhone", it lists my mac as "Offline", so something's wrong there too.

I had two factor as well. The support twitter asked me to temporarily remove 2-factor to see if that was the problem but it wasn't. Did safe mode as well as trying to use another OSX user account. Nothing worked. The app is firmly stuck at the login screen no matter what. It was fine when I upgraded overtop my 10.11.3 install but I did a clean install to remove all the stuff I don't use anymore. Plus its a force of habit being a primarily Windows user. So I think this really is a bug that only occurs in clean installs with the final version of this update and perhaps since clean installs are mostly unnecessary it got missed.
 

Sneakz

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 17, 2008
1,224
347
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Additionally, anyone who has bought a new Mac in the last day or so can't sign in either. Know someone who picked up a MacBook who can't sign in to iMessage/FaceTime. Had 10.11.3 out of the box.
 
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mustgroove

macrumors regular
Aug 14, 2006
203
12
I waited all the way through till 10.11.4 to do a fresh install, thinking they'd surely have everything sorted by that point... but obviously not :(
 

fhall1

macrumors 68040
Dec 18, 2007
3,875
1,320
(Central) NY State of mind
I waited all the way through till 10.11.4 to do a fresh install, thinking they'd surely have everything sorted by that point... but obviously not :(

LOL....I was waiting for this weekend to finally take the plunge and upgrade from Yosemite to ElCap - I've been waiting for the 10.x.4 release before I upgrade for the last few OS versions. Guess I'll wait just a little longer now.
 

superstrikertwo

macrumors 65816
Jun 9, 2008
1,096
100
California
LOL....I was waiting for this weekend to finally take the plunge and upgrade from Yosemite to ElCap - I've been waiting for the 10.x.4 release before I upgrade for the last few OS versions. Guess I'll wait just a little longer now.

The upgrade process is fine it's just a fresh install that doesn't work. So if you're already signed into iMessage and FaceTime on your computer you should be okay.
 

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Sep 21, 2012
35,647
52,436
In a van down by the river
Before I did a clean install last night, I did a CCC backup of the upgrade to 10.11.4. CCC just completed the restore and I was able to sign into iMessage without any problems. FaceTime was automatically logged in. Also, the continuity activation tool for handoff works as it should again, whereas with the clean install last night, it would only airdrop from the phone to the Mac and that was all.

For those with CCC, (Carbon Copy Cloner) give it a try.
 
Last edited:

mustgroove

macrumors regular
Aug 14, 2006
203
12
Considering this affects people who have bought new macs in the last couple of days, as well as people who have installed 10.11.4 fresh (like I have), it'd be cool if Macrumors posted this as a news item - seems like the best way to get quick progress on this might be if it's out there in the tech news world, generating some pressure on Apple to get it fixed
 

PaulyB80

macrumors newbie
Feb 19, 2015
13
1
Just bought a MacBook today, same issue. I've had a browse on the official Apple forums and come across the following post which has solved the problem for me:

Reply Helpfulby aPenguin on Oct 25, 2015 9:10 AM


The following procedure worked for me. Please note that it will delete your Apple ID account information for the current user and you will need to log in again.

  • if the App Store is opened and stuck in the login process, force close it

  • open the Terminal

  • issue the following commands:
    • sudo pkill -9 -f Account

    • sudo rm $HOME/Library/Accounts/*
  • open the App Store and log in
 

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Sep 21, 2012
35,647
52,436
In a van down by the river
Just bought a MacBook today, same issue. I've had a browse on the official Apple forums and come across the following post which has solved the problem for me:

Reply Helpfulby aPenguin on Oct 25, 2015 9:10 AM


The following procedure worked for me. Please note that it will delete your Apple ID account information for the current user and you will need to log in again.

  • if the App Store is opened and stuck in the login process, force close it

  • open the Terminal

  • issue the following commands:
    • sudo pkill -9 -f Account

    • sudo rm $HOME/Library/Accounts/*
  • open the App Store and log in
What about iMessage and FaceTime login? Are you saying that the fix you posted takes care of iMessage and FaceTime problems as well? Last night, I had no problem logging into iTunes. It was iMessage and FaceTime that were the problem.
 

PaulyB80

macrumors newbie
Feb 19, 2015
13
1
What about iMessage and FaceTime login? Are you saying that the fix you posted takes care of iMessage and FaceTime problems as well? Last night, I had no problem logging into iTunes. It was iMessage and FaceTime that were the problem.

I could not log into anything I tried - app store, iMessage and iCloud Keychain were the ones I had tried. After the fix, no issues with any of them.
 
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