iChat help

October 17, 2004 7:18 PM

I deleted iChat a while back when I swore off internet chatting. Except now I'd like to have it back. And when I download iChat AV from the Apple site it says, "Sorry. Can't install. You don't have original iChat." How do I get the original iChat back? (Sorry this is so long-winded.)
posted by adrober to Technology (7 answers total)

It's part of either your Mac OS X 10.3 installation discs, or the system installation discs that came with your computer (if your computer came with 10.3 pre-installed). But I don't think, off-hand, that you can pick it in a separate custom installation.

If you can't grab a copy from another computer somewhere, your best bet will be to try to find it in the main system archive using Pacifist. Most of iChat's work is done by private frameworks in the "/System" folder, but since it seems unlikely that you deleted these, restoring the application should do the trick.

If you can't find it via Pacifist or find a copy from a friend, you'll have to reinstall Mac OS X 10.3 to get it back. Sorry. Don't delete applications that come with the system.
posted by mdeatherage at 7:37 PM on October 17, 2004

Thanks mdeatherage... I downloaded Pacifist and now I'm not really sure what to do with it. When I click "Open Package" where should I go next? I searched through the system folders and libraries for anything mentioning iChat and couldn't find anything. Further help would be much appreciated.
posted by adrober at 7:50 PM on October 17, 2004

You should be looking at packages on your Mac OS X installation discs or the discs that came with your computer.
posted by kindall at 7:56 PM on October 17, 2004

Cool...actually an anonymous mefite just sent me iChat, so thanks everyone for your help!
posted by adrober at 8:30 PM on October 17, 2004

If anonymous mefite is reading, and might be so kind as to send iChat to me as well (I did the same thing adrober did, not knowing how difficult it would be to fix the goof) I would be extraordinarily appreciative.
posted by Dreama at 11:08 PM on October 17, 2004

But for the record, kindall is (again) correct: since you'd get it back by installing from your original Mac OS X CDs (whether those are stand-alone or the ones that came with your computer), that's where you'd have to go to find the installation package to open with Pacifist, too.
posted by mdeatherage at 2:04 AM on October 18, 2004

Thanks to both adrober and anonymous mefite for hooking me up. Not having to reinstall the OS saved me time I didn't have to devote to such a task.
posted by Dreama at 6:52 PM on October 18, 2004