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Level 1

4 points

Mail application corrupted

Please help! I reloaded Tiger and my Mail app became corrupted as a result of my reload. The reply button and the send button do not work. I have tried a few different fixes without success. However, when I switched user accounts I learned that the Mail app works fine under a diferent user account on same system. How can I transfer the Mail app that works correctly from one user account over to the other user account and dump the Mail app that is corrupted?

This same phenomena occurrs on both my iMac aznd my eMac.

imac g-4, i-book, e-mac, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Nov 3, 2007 8:37 AM

Best reply

Ernie Stamper

Level 8

37,591 points

Posted on Nov 3, 2007 9:36 AM

Bob,

First try removing the Mail icon from the Dock, and then launching Mail from the Applications folder -- this is a stretch, but with what you have done, worth try.

If this does not work, the next thing to try, is removing the plist for the preferences if a new one was created, as follows:

Quit Mail, and in the Finder open Home/Library and locate the Mail folder again. Control-click over the Mail folder, and choose Duplicate -- then drag the resulting copy to the Desktop strictly for temporary backup. Next, open Home/Library/Preferences and find the com.apple.mail.plist file and drag it to the desktop.

Relaunch Mail, which will open as though new, and when prompted to import anything DECLINE. Instead, re-enter your account info, and Mail will re-discover the account folders for your accounts, and you can test this again. This will remove corruption that might only be in the preference file.

Ernie

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38 replies

Nov 6, 2007 7:35 AM in response to Bob Saylor

Bob,

We can talk about the Envelope Index after you have done the A&I -- it may not be needed.

Ernie

Bob Saylor Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 6, 2007 11:29 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Ernie:

Eureka! I've completed the A & I and the Combo update. I now have all of my email histories. Only items missing is my sent mail from 10/28 until today. I can find the relative files but I do not kow how to capture the sent mail from them (on mail.plist?) without jeopardizing what I have accomplished.

Before the A & I I exchanged the mail.plist & Mail folder from the previous system folder which I knew would contain my needed histories but I fortfeited my sent mail of the past week. I know it there but do not kow how to transfer it.

You've been a great help and I very much appreciate your patience. Thanks!

Bob

Nov 6, 2007 12:14 PM in response to Bob Saylor

Bob,

If needed, I can probably lead you through salvaging those recent sent messages, if in fact you know where they reside. Where did you find them, exactly?

Ernie

Bob Saylor Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 6, 2007 1:11 PM in response to Ernie Stamper

Ernie:

Both the com.apple.mail.plist from home/library/preferences and the Mail folder from home/library/Mail are on my external HD at this time.

Bob

Bob Saylor Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 6, 2007 3:44 PM in response to Ernie Stamper

Ernie:

Stumped again!

I do have all my files restored, etc. However, there are some serious anomalies with the Mail app. i.e.: I click on 'Forward' and type a few keystrokes in the body of the reply (maybe 4 or 5) and then I start getting the boing sound indicating I'm trying to execute a incompatible action. Then all is frozen until I delete the reply effort. I click on 'Reply' and 'Reply All' and no response. Although right after the re-install and update I was able to successfully use the Mail app. In the first few hours all was fine and since it has deteriorated. I can no longer send mail but am receiving fine. When I hit the 'Send" button I get the boing sound.

I'm fairly comfortable with the validity of my re-install and Combo update. Since the install and after I noticed the deterioration I have repaired disk permissions and verified and repaired disk using utilities from the DVD.

These are the characteristics that occured when I first re-installed and used System Update instead of Combo.

What is so wierd to me is that Mail worked OK at first and then progressively deteriorated. I did nothing today to my system other than what is above described. Once, when I selected 'Forward' the mail page came up and I populated the 'To' box, tabbed to 'Subject' to change it and the mail area dedicated to the 'To', 'CC' & 'Subject' lines whited out and became populated with upsidedown densely spaced text.

BTW - I'm using a iMac, G-4, 800 mHz. It's running cool as a cucumber.

Any ideas?

Bob

Bob Saylor Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 8, 2007 11:29 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Ernie:

All appears to be fixed. Give me a shout if you care to know how it all came back together. Your assistance was invaluable.

Thanks much,

Bob

Bob Saylor Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 9, 2007 11:21 AM in response to Bob Saylor

After assimilating all of the valuable input received I deleted all Previous System folders from HD after backing up to an external firewire drive. I found my original Mail folder from Home/Library/Mial and com.apple.mail.plist file from Home/Library/Preferences and moved both to the external drive. I installed Tiger 10.4.3 from DVD as an A & I and then immediately update with the Combo package to 10.4.10. Then I launched OnyX and ran a Maintenance>Reset of LaunchServices database. Next I discarded the newly created Mail folder and com.apple.mail.plist file for the new system and retrieved my original folder and file after doing a restart. All appears to be inorder at this time.

Nov 9, 2007 12:54 PM in response to Bob Saylor

Bob,

Your description of the steps you took to resolve this may very well prove beneficial to others. I commend you for taking the time to post this. While we had covered most of this in a bunch of posts, it may not have been as understandable, as it is now in summation of the whole action.

Ernie

Mail application corrupted