Flakey Google Talk connection in iChat
1.3.2008 – 3:22 pm | by paul
One of my News Years Resolutions is to keep in more regular contact with friends. One way I decided to do that was to stay logged into a chat client. It’s not for meaningful discussions, but just for the occasional, Hi there kind of thing.
I’m using Google Talk, via iChat. The big problem I’ve had so far is the connection continually gets dropped, and I can’t figure out why. I can’t seem to stay logged in more than about 1/2 hour.
Has anyone else had this problem with Google Talk / iChat?
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Adium is a better GTalk client than iChat.
January 4th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
I’m logged into GTalk from iChat and it works fine. No real issues. I used the instructions from Google’s help pages.
Paul, do you still have that 2 GB memory from your Macbook Pro?
January 5th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Hi Arvin,
I’ll check Google’s help pages to see if I have something set up incorrectly. Thanks.
I actually put that RAM in a drawer and forgot all about it. I do still have it, but I’m afraid there may be a slight change of plans. My girlfriend, Anne Marie, will be buying a new computer after Macworld. If she ends up with a machine that the RAM will fit in, I should give it to her. I can let you know if she gets a computer that it won’t fit in if you want.
Sorry for the change,
paul
January 7th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
@Daniel - Ya, I’ve tried Adium. There are some things I like about it, and some things I don’t. The good news is I don’t constantly get disconnected like I do with iChat.
I may use Adium just so I can stay logged in, but it’s a bummer that it doesn’t have audio and video chat built in… at least not yet.
January 7th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
But does GTalk has video and audio bult in?
Here in Brazil we use MSN a lot (it sucks, I know) i use Adium and when I need to use audio and video I use the MeBeam plugin for Adium. It works ok.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:40 am
@Daniel - Yep, GTalk via iChat does text, audio, and video right out of the box without any plugins or 3rd party apps. It works really well.
January 17th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
I’ve had the same problem. I don’t have any solution but thought you’d feel better in some way to know that you aren’t alone?
February 13th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Hey my google talk is working well on my ichat but i was wondering if the audio video works. coz ive tried everything and cant seem to get it. also my msn doesnt work with ichat nor does yahoo.. HELP!!!
February 13th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Kirt, Yes, I’ve used audio and video with Google Chat via iChat. Unfortunately, I can’t give you any specific advise, but it does work.
iChat doesn’t support msn. I’m not sure, but I don’t think it supports Yahoo either. For those you should look at Adium.
February 17th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
@paul - are you on tiger or leopard? I’m not able to use voice chat on iChat with Google Talk service.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:38 am
@kyle - I’m on Leopard, but I’m almost positive that I was able to do it under Tiger as well. Both parties were using iChat. I’ve never tried it with someone using the actual Google chat software… just their service. I wouldn’t think that would make a difference though.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Have Leopard and can chat with buddy on google talk but I can’t do audio. When I hit the call button it says I have to download an exe file which my imac can’t use. Is there another way?
February 27th, 2008 at 9:44 am
@mike - Is your buddy using iChat too? I’ve ben able to voice-chat via Google Talk without problems with both sides using iChat. I’ve never tried with the other person using Google’s application.
March 16th, 2008 at 5:58 am
Hi–just came across your site looking for a solution to my problem. Wanted to add my name to the list of people saying You Are Not Alone. Drat.
March 28th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Hi, two people here too who has same problem when using Google’s Jabber. One uses Leopard iChat and another Tiger iChat. Only chat works, but not audio nor video. Bummer. Any help to overcome this problem would be nice.
April 21st, 2008 at 8:43 am
I also just came across this site. My jabber connection with google dies every hour or so…its really annoying, and I guess there are no fixes :(
May 4th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Just want to add my voice to the crowd of those who keep getting booted from gtalk via iChat. Very sporadic, and I haven’t found a solution yet…
May 12th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Hey there,
I am going crazy setting up Ichat for gtalk. I only get the jabber account with which i can not do any audio or video chat. How is the set up???
can someone help
thanks a billion
Susan
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Add me to the list… And if anyone solves this, fill me in!