Pidgin showing "Unable to connect" message with Gmail chat

I am unable to connect to gmail chat through pidgin (2.10.9) on Debian.

But Facebook chat is working fine.

Have tried this:

Google support https://support.google.com/a/answer/49147?hl=en
a blog suggestion

Telnet shows

$ telnet gmail.com 5222 
Trying 74.125.236.86... 
Trying 74.125.236.85... 
Trying 2404:6800:4007:801::1015... 
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Network is unreachable

Tried pidgin FAQ suggestion

at console

dig +short SRV _xmpp-client._tcp.gmail.com

gives

5 0 5222 xmpp.l.google.com.
20 0 5222 alt4.xmpp.l.google.com. 
20 0 5222 alt2.xmpp.l.google.com. 
20 0 5222 alt1.xmpp.l.google.com.
20 0 5222 alt3.xmpp.l.google.com.

AAI

Posted 2014-09-12T06:49:27.353

Reputation: 161

Check your netwrok. There seems to be some issue – frlan – 2014-09-12T07:04:50.867

I have internet access.Also, fb chat is working with pidgin. What else can I check, any suggestion? – AAI – 2014-09-12T07:12:25.250

your firewall seems to be blocking those ports. – Sathyajith Bhat – 2014-09-12T09:27:18.680

Answers

Enabled allow less secure apps option in Google account. This solved the problems with all the standard pidgin settings for the gtalk.

AAI

Posted 2014-09-12T06:49:27.353

Reputation: 161

1Not the greatest solution, since it explicitly makes your account less secure. Is there any way other than this? – Nicholi – 2015-05-28T20:31:16.190

The question is rather old, but I still encountered this problem today. So, here's a solution. Use these settings in the advanced tab:

Connection security: "Use old-style SSL"
Connect port: 5223
Connect server: talk.google.com

Particularly setting the Connect server appears to be important.

Simon Steinberger

Posted 2014-09-12T06:49:27.353

Reputation: 280