Pidgin Received Unexpected Response from AIM and ICQ

Today, my Pidgin IM client started giving the error, “Received unexpected response from http://api.oscar.aol.com/aim/startOSCARSession”, when connecting to the AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) server. Apparently, it can also happen when connecting to ICQ. Fortuantely, the fix/workaround on Windows and Linux is really easy.

  1. Go to Accounts
  2. Modify the AIM or ICQ account
  3. On the Advanced tab, clear the checkbox labeled Use clientLogin
  4. Save

Are you using Adium? It may also have this issue on the Mac. If you’ve solved it, post the steps in a reply.

Update: Alternatively, in step 3, you can clear the checkbox labeled Use SSL

70 thoughts on “Pidgin Received Unexpected Response from AIM and ICQ”

  1. Not sure what changed. It happened to me on 2.6.4 and I got notification that 2.6.5 was out. So, I updated, but it didn’t fix the problem. If you run into any more info, let me know.

  2. The 4-step fix seems to work for me.

    This error is weird. I only got it when I upgraded this morning to Pidgin 2.6.5. So I said “screw this” and reinstalled 2.6.4… but the error was still there!

  3. You are a godsend (if atheistic, um…you are a coincidence of genes that was really really useful to me); I had felt like an idiot for an hour trying to figure that one out.

  4. @ Kelsey: “a coincidence of genes that was really really useful” LOL! That’s a new one. Glad it worked out.

  5. Unmarking SSL did the trick for me. Never had this problem until 2.6.5. Thanks for posting the solution.

  6. Had the same problem in both 2.6.4 and 2.6.5 (Windows). Unchecking the clientLogin tickbox worked perfectly. Thank you so much!

  7. Just had this problem happen literally >10 minutes ago.. Googled and voila, your post was made four hours ago. Life saver 😉

  8. Thanks, worked for me. I was about the post a solution as well to my blog, but found this, and it’s also noted on pidgin.im as well.

  9. Same thing… your fix seemed to do the trick. But it was only on an install on a Vista system… my Win 7 was still working as of this morning.

  10. I was using 2.6.4 just fine until Tuesday 1/11/10 when the error started happening. I upgraded to 2.6.5 but that didn’t help. I tried unchecking SSL and that worked so I tried re-checking it and unchecking Use ClientLogin and that worked too. So both options worked for me.