[Macpilot]

OK.

Got a buddy to switch to the Mac.

iMac G5 20". All updates done. 10.3.5 factory installation.

Problems:

iSight will not video chat. Camera comes on. Camera is recognized on iMovie, iChat, and System Profiler. Checked the iSight camera on another Mac. It worked. So it is some kind of software issue.

So I decided to install Cocktail and run all the maintenance stuff. No dice.

Deleted .plist file for iChat. No dice.

Tried to run the iSight update and some message appeared momentarily then disappeared before I could read the whole message.

So as a last ditch I downloaded the 10.3.5 Combo Updater that fixed all sorts of issues when I updated my Powerbook to 10.3.5.

I run the Combo update on the iMac, and when I get to the "Select a Destination" portion of the installer, a red exclamation mark appears and says "You cannot install this software on this volume. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update."

Any help would be great. Thanks!

[thePurpleGiant]

First questions that come to mind:

1) Maybe the computer already has 10.3.5, hence why it doesn't want to be installed.

2) I'd just run software uipdate, instead of downloading installers yourself. Running software update will find any updates needed by that machine, that will work and install.

3) In iChat, click on the video camera icon next to her name in the buddy list - do you see the video window come up? With live video in it? If not, what happens?

[Macpilot]

Yes, the machine already has 10.3.5 on it. But you should still be able to install the Combo Update over it. This has fixed issues for many people because the incremental updates that Software Update downloads have been problematic for some.

As far as the iSight goes, yes, it captures video just fine. We hooked it up to an iBook and were able to video chat to my Powerbook with no problems.

I think it is iChat that is the problem.

[JKT]

Originally posted by Macpilot:
Yes, the machine already has 10.3.5 on it. But you should still be able to install the Combo Update over it. This has fixed issues for many people because the incremental updates that Software Update downloads have been problematic for some.

As far as the iSight goes, yes, it captures video just fine. We hooked it up to an iBook and were able to video chat to my Powerbook with no problems.

I think it is iChat that is the problem.

If you create a test user account, does the iSight work in that? If so, it is likely a .plist somewhere that is causing the problem. If not, you could use Pacifist to install just iChat from the iMac disks.

[Macpilot]

OK. Just tried using the iSight under a different account and same problem.

Downloaded and installed Pacifist. Deleted iChat first. Re-installed iChat. No dice.

This is totally weird.

We can't get this iSight to work on this iMac under any circumstances.

I really don't want to wipe the drive and start from scratch. He has a lot of stuff to back up.

[JKT]

Originally posted by Macpilot:
OK. Just tried using the iSight under a different account and same problem.

Downloaded and installed Pacifist. Deleted iChat first. Re-installed iChat. No dice.

This is totally weird.

We can't get this iSight to work on this iMac under any circumstances.

I really don't want to wipe the drive and start from scratch. He has a lot of stuff to back up.

Archive and Install?

How does the iSight connect - is it via FireWire? If so, does anything else work in the FireWire ports? It could be that you need to check the internals - something may have slipped or worked loose during transit. Try taking the back off and checking that all connections etc are OK.

[Macpilot]

The iSight is a firewire camera, so it can only plug into the firewire port. Yes, other stuff like his iPod work fine on the same firewire port. The iMac G5 has two firewire ports, and the iSight has been tested on both, with no luck in video.

[CatOne]

Originally posted by Macpilot:
OK.

...

So as a last ditch I downloaded the 10.3.5 Combo Updater that fixed all sorts of issues when I updated my Powerbook to 10.3.5.

I run the Combo update on the iMac, and when I get to the "Select a Destination" portion of the installer, a red exclamation mark appears and says "You cannot install this software on this volume. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update."

Any help would be great. Thanks!

Note, the version of OS X that's installed on the iMac G5 is NEWER than the combo update. You would be downgrading to the OS, to a version which doesn't have the proper enablers for the machine. This would be "A Very Bad Thing(tm)".

For example from a terminal prompt, run sw_vers

Here's what I get on my machine

[catone@moots:~] sw_vers
ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.3.5
BuildVersion: 7M34

If you do the same, you'll get a more recent version -- the letter will be after "M" in the alphabet.

Come 10.3.6, the versions will be synchronized. But this is standard practice -- new machines have more up to date versions than the general release, because OS tweaks are made for each particular platform.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by Macpilot:
I really don't want to wipe the drive and start from scratch. He has a lot of stuff to back up.

First, I'd create a new user and see if you have the same problem while logged in as this user. If so, then it's some setting in your main user's home folder.

If not, I'd recommend an OS reinstall, but there's no need to wipe the drive. Boot from the Install CD, and when you see a button called "Options", click it, and choose Archive and Install. This will give you a clean installation of the OS while leaving all your data intact.

[Macpilot]

The machine would not allow me to do an Archive and Install. Wierd. So we are doing a format and clean install.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by Macpilot:
The machine would not allow me to do an Archive and Install.

Huh? What happened when you tried?

Is your drive almost full or something?