Buddies do not stay in iChat buddy list

iChat is giving some users a problem in which newly added buddies will not stay in the buddy list. Users are able to communicate with the added buddies while they are in the list, but within seconds they seem to disappear.

Apple Discussions poster Boeing Driver writes:

"When I try to add a buddy to my AIM buddy list, he appears for a few seconds, flashes and disappears. This person has an AIM account, and if i click on it before it disappears, i am able to IM chat with him."

This problem has been reported with AIM buddies, though it might also happen with other account types as well. It is a result of problems with the iChatAgent's preferences, which is the program that manages iChat's background activities. To fix this problem, users have had to force-quit the iChatAgent, and remove the agent's preferences as well as the AIM preferences for iChat.

Fix: Reset the iChat agent and remove preferences Quit iChat, and then open the "Activity Monitor" utility (located in the /Applications/Utilties/ folder) and locate the "ichatagent" process (searching for it may help isolate it). Then click the "Quit Process" button in the toolbar and confirm quitting the program. When this is done, locate and remove the following two files in the /username/Library/Preferences/ folder:

• com.apple.ichat.AIM.plist
• com.apple.ichatAgent.plist

When these files are removed open iChat again and try adding buddies to the buddy list again.

Resources