Problem adding Comcast email address to macOS Mail

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Level 1

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Problem adding Comcast email address to macOS Mail

Hi, I'm trying to help my dad who has a 2010 MacBook Pro running macOS Sierra. He has a Comcast email account. It's been connected to his computer with IMAP for years. Everything was working fine until about 2 weeks ago when he stopped being able to send any emails. I shared his screen and wasn't able to reset the SMTP server settings so I deleted the account with the intention of adding it back immediately. But then I couldn't. It kept timing out or saying either that the account already existed or that it couldn't verify the account name or password (which were definitely correct). I tried using both System Preferences/Internet Accounts and using the Mail app directly, with no luck.

After more research, I changed his Comcast password and reset his keychain. That allowed me to add his Comcast email account using the Mail app, but it will only add as POP, not as IMAP, which is of course annoying in terms of syncing with his iPhone (which is working perfectly with IMAP). No matter what I try, the computer will not give me any option to change it to IMAP or add it as IMAP in the first place.

My dad was prepared to live with POP as long as he could at least see his email on his computer, BUT there's a new problem:

Almost every day, the SMTP server stops working and he can't send email anymore. The Comcast SMTP server just disappears from his Mail settings. I'll share his screen, add the server back, send a test email, get it to work, and the next day he calls me to say he can't send email and when I check, the SMTP is gone again. Both of us are going crazy from this. I KNOW he isn't touching the settings without me.

BTW, I have told him that he really should get a new computer. But if the problem is because his computer is old, why did it work perfectly for years? Also, I tested adding his Comcast email to my iMac 2017 and it added as IMAP with all settings correct on the first try. I'm not sure what that means.

Thanks in advance for any advice or ideas,

Jennifer

MacBook Pro

Posted on Apr 12, 2020 3:02 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

MrHoffman

Community+ 2024

Level 10

125,829 points

Apr 12, 2020 3:36 PM in response to jennisok

Ensure backups are working, as a 2010 that’s acting as funky as this one can be suffering from failing hardware.

Hard disk failures are one cause of weird problems.

Add-on anti-malware, add-on anti-virus, add-on cleaners, add-on VPN clients, and add-on firewalls can all introduce issues.

Try the hardware test.

Back up, and then upgrade to High Sierra, and try again. High Sierra still has some support.

Older versions have older network security support, and it could well be that your ISP is upgrading their requirements.

If this is just for mail and such, an iPad (maybe with a keyboard) would be a potential upgrade option.

If you’d like us to take a look at this Mac, download and run EtreCheck. Then open a new reply here and then press the button that looks like a printed page to get a text input box big enough to paste the hardware and software configuration report here.

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Answer 2

DonH49

Level 6

16,710 points

Apr 13, 2020 9:53 AM in response to jennisok

when you go into the mail setup for the account try using the OPTION key to get to map. Also on the account side make sure you use SERVER and edit to ensure 993 and 587 along with the correct passwords are there. Lastly, believe it or not Comcast has changed my password in my email account without informing me so always be alert for that...good luck.

I don't think its the one of the computer but the difference in operating systems. I cannot think back far enough to determine when the option key had to be used to get to map not pop. Nowadays its just automatic.

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Problem adding Comcast email address to macOS Mail

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