Connections to host p38-imap.mail.me.com on the default ports failed.

Question

Connections to host p38-imap.mail.me.com on the default ports failed.

I keep getting this warning in Apple Mail for my iCloud mailbox on my Mac Mini.

The account works perfectly on my MacBook Pro and iPhone and all other mail accounts (Gmail, Exchange, Imap) work normally on the Mac Mini, it is just the iCloud account that fails.

Strangely, I have found that I can send mail from the account, but not receive it (i.e. it seems to be connecting to the smtp server, but not the imap one).

So far, I have tried:

Deleting then re-adding the account using Mail preferences.
Changing the user name to .mac, .me, .icloud. Also tried it without any suffix (i.e. user name before @)
Adding the iCloud account as a new imap account—manually adding the server and port settings.
Deleting the entire iCloud package from the Mac Mini, rebooting the machine, then added it again.
Deleting the caches within: /library/caches/com.apple.mail/ then rebooting.

I can't think of any more I can do other than reinstalling the operating system (or waiting for a major update to it). I have read every thread I can find on this topic (not a rare problem it seems) and tried every suggested solution I can find.

I can't afford to waste any more time on it, so I keep my iPhone handy to check incoming messages on my iCloud account. Thanks to anyone who can help me fix the problem!

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jun 1, 2020 7:43 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

tygb

Level 9

64,708 points

Jun 1, 2020 5:23 PM in response to Luke Christian

The primary admin account might be corrupted create a new test user account https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT204443

And configure mail accounts https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mail/mail35803/mac

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Answer 2

Jun 1, 2020 1:13 PM in response to Luke Christian

He's a screenshot of the connection doctor's diagnosis:

It seems bizarre that the connection information (including whether the server supports SSL) are clearly not a problem for the SMTP connection, yet they are for IMAP? Can't work out how or why this can be...

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Answer 3

tygb

Level 9

64,708 points

Jun 2, 2020 6:25 AM in response to Luke Christian

Which mail services do you use , in gmail accounts in the latest versions of Mac the settings are by default even you try to manually enter port settings and other settings it will not accept , so leave the settings as empty .

Right now I opened my connection doctor for IMAP account , one of SMTP mails settings is vanished for iCloud account , it seems its due to my internet service provider problem or might be from iCloud server , the circle is continuously rotating .

What my observation for your mail issues is from your internet service provider ( sometimes their servers are down ) as you had created a new test user account / configured mail account , also I don't think it is nescessary to reinstall Mac OS .

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Answer 4

Jun 2, 2020 6:04 AM in response to tygb

Thanks for you help tygb.

I have checked and can confirm that setting-up the iCloud mail account for a new user DOES resolve the problem. However, I cannot work out what to do about it in my own profile. Are there any settings I could copy and paste from the new account to overwrite the corrupted ones in my own—or even copy settings across from the Library on my MacBook Pro? Just to reiterate: the iCloud mail account is fully able to connect to SMTP, but unable to connect to IMAP (which uses the same username, password and security settings). I have deleted, rebooted and reinstated the account repeatedly, I have even installed the latest major update to the OS (10.15.5), but still I get the same old warning the second I add the iCloud account to Mail!!!

on a new account

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Answer 5

Jun 2, 2020 7:57 AM in response to tygb

Thanks tygb,

The problem has nothing to do with the service provider—the account works perfectly for a different user on the same Mac!

I'm also using my MacBook Pro on the same wifi network, attached to the same service provider—which also works perfectly.

Thanks anyway!

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Answer 6

beej6

Level 1

4 points

Jun 2, 2020 8:26 AM in response to Luke Christian

I am getting this warning too this morning on my iMac, but I still able to both receive and send email.

I usually will just reboot/restart the computer and hope that it clears... As soon as I posted this, it cleared.

Blessings,

BJ Mora

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Answer 7

Jun 5, 2020 2:26 AM in response to beej6

Thank you BJ, I have rebooted so many times I feel like booting by Mac Mini out of the window!

I continue to be plagued by this seemingly intractable problem. My latest attempt to solve it was to totally reinstall the OS (Catalina) from the recovery partition. Imagine my horror after an hour's optimistic expectation to find that, even now, 'Connections to host p38-imap.mail.me.com on the default ports failed'.

Despicably inexplicable!

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Connections to host p38-imap.mail.me.com on the default ports failed.

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