Mail goes "offline" in AOL's smtp settings

Question

Mail goes "offline" in AOL's smtp settings

I have three e-mail accounts in my Mail 4.4 app. The POP accounts for ATT and MSN work fine but AOL's IMAP settings have suddenly started acting up. I can still receive e-mail on the AOL account but whenever I try to send an e-mail the AOL account suddenly goes "offline." It continues to show "online" in the menu's "online status" but shows "offline" in the account preferences and after vainly trying to send the message for a couple of minutes the mail application posts a window that tells me I cannot use that server and should try later or try another.
Since I am not a paid AOL user but simply take advantage of its free e-mail service, I cannot even call their tech support to find out what the problem is. I assume it's on AOL's end but has anyone else experienced this?

MacMini 2,1, Mac OS X (10.6.5), Mail 4.4

Posted on Dec 12, 2010 5:36 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 22, 2017 12:32 PM in response to Holger Jensen

I had this problem and got lucky finding the answer.

1) go to mail preferences and click accounts

2) click on the AOL account

3) Un click ALL items

4) Account goes to inactive

5) Click on inactive account

6) Re-check ALL the items again

7) enter password again

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Answer 2

iLogger

Level 1

128 points

Nov 22, 2017 12:48 PM in response to Holger Jensen

Hey what does connection doctor say?

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Answer 3

Dec 12, 2010 11:48 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

I can receive IMAP mail with or without aol.com added to the username, and can get mail with or without SSL (if you're using port 993 that's with SSL, without SSL the port is 143). Incoming mail is not my problem. Outgoing mail is a problem. My mail app simply does not connect to AOL's SMTP server even though the username, password and port settings are all correct. It simply goes offline whenever I try to send an e-mail and tells me the connection failed.

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Answer 4

Dec 12, 2010 5:55 AM in response to Holger Jensen

Although not where I can check the setup of my AOL account, let me suggest removing the AOL SMTP from the list of available outgoing servers, and then add it back. Instead of using the Default Port list, choose Custom Port and enter 587 then choose to use SSL. See:

http://email.about.com/od/accessingaolmail/f/AOLMail_SMTPSettings.htm

Ernie

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Answer 5

Dec 12, 2010 6:39 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

My smtp custom port was always set to 587 but SSL was off according to AOL's previous settings. I turned it on both for incoming and outgoing mail, but outgoing still does not work. I'll try to run maintenance and repair permissions to see if that works.

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Answer 6

Dec 12, 2010 11:00 AM in response to Holger Jensen

Home, and checking my AOL account, including sending from it. No problem -- mine was set to use Default SMTP list, and w/o SSL, and it sent despite that.

I suggested the Custom Port to try to have you bypass any interaction from your ISP to limit things, but may not have fully got you there. Your ISP has a lot to do with using other SMTP.

If you open Connection Doctor (Window in the menubar and choose) what does it report?

Ernie

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Answer 7

Dec 12, 2010 11:23 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

I have trashed my AOL account and recreated it in various ways in Mail prefs. According to AOL's latest settings instructions, they have both POP and IMAP servers for receiving mail, using SSL is optional, SMPT set to port 587 for outgoing mail, and user name requires the complete e-mail address, i.e. with @aol.com included. I cannot connect to their POP server at all with with or without aol.com in my user name, I can connect to IMAP using the username with or without the aol.com attachdd, and can receive e-mails with or without SS. But SMTP goes "offline" whenever I try to send an e-mail. When SSL is unchecked in the prefs Connection Doctor tells me "connection failed" and to verify my user name and password. When SSL is checked the good doctor tells me the connection failed because of an SSL error and to make sure that AOL's SMTP server can handle SSL. I am completely mystified. AOL worked fine in my Mail app for years before this started happening two days ago, and my ATT and MSN accounts continue to work fine. Is AOL, perhaps, a target of the cyberattacks leveled at various ISPs because of their anti-Wikkileaks stance?

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Answer 8

Dec 12, 2010 11:29 AM in response to Holger Jensen

I am only using the Username portion of the address, and NOT the @aol.com portion. I am using the account as IMAP, and using Port 993 for the Incoming (as set in Mail Preferences/Accounts/Advanced).

Ernie

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Answer 9

Dec 13, 2010 5:28 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

I tried that already and it didn't work. Now I don't want to touch the AOL account as long as it's working again, since it's my main spam repository among other things. But thanks for all your help. Now all I have to do is figure out how to remove that weird date from all my roots and certificates without crashing OSX.

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Answer 10

Dec 17, 2010 3:12 PM in response to Holger Jensen

For the last 2 weeks, I've been running to a client's house everything day to reset her smpt. AOL told me I need to redo her entire system, which I did. Still that the outgoing mail worked for only a couple of hours. Today AOL told me this problem came about after the last update (10.6.5). They also told me Comcast is having the same problem. Having been around long enough I know when AOL can't fix something it becomes a Mac problem. I was at a client today who is using Comcast and had no problems.

For my client one thing I thought of today was not letting the machine go to sleep. While sleep works much better today than it did in the early days, sometimes it can still cause problems. When I left today and turned the machine off. I will find out later whether this plan worked or not.

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Answer 11

Jan 17, 2011 11:49 AM in response to Holger Jensen

Hi Guys.

Anyone has a fix to this problem ?

I had to change to the custom port 587, and I can't send e-mails anymore.

I did everything:
- reboot mail app;
- reset keychain;
- reboot imac;
- update Mac OS to the last level;
- fix disk permissions;
- etc.

I still can't send e-mail on the custom port 587.

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Answer 12

Feb 26, 2011 6:53 AM in response to gwlaguna

Some issues of a few days ago on AOL's end of things may have resulted in Mail removing the Password from the preference settings. Go into Mail Preferences/Accounts/Account Information and see if the AOL SMTP is shown as Offline? Then click on the arrows beside the name of the SMTP, choose Edit Server List, and if needed reenter the Password. I found this to be the case just now, and since I only maintain an AOL account as a test account, I had not noticed. Once I entered the PW, sending worked.

Ernie

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Answer 13

MRRooney

Level 1

18 points

Feb 26, 2011 6:16 PM in response to Holger Jensen

I just updated my dad's MacBook Pro to the latest OS updates... NOW his AOL email cannon send via Apple MAIL program.
I had this problem last year, but resetting keychains and other things with Apple got it working, but it was not easy. I've tried all of those, but ever since I installed these updates the AOL program cannot send.
Thoughts???

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Answer 14

Mar 8, 2011 7:45 AM in response to Holger Jensen

Anyone out there come up with a fix yet???????
I have four e-mail accounts -- AT&T, Qwest, MSN and AOL -- and Mail 4.4 works fine with three of them but while it receives AOL mail it simply will not connect to AOL's SMTP server for outgoing mail. As usual AOL tells me it's a Mac problem or a problem with my ISP while my ISP says it's a Mac problem or a problem with AOL. As for Apple: a deafening silence.

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Answer 15

Mar 8, 2011 4:16 PM in response to Holger Jensen

Well, after much angst and investigation, this is definitely a Mac Mail problem. The only trouble is, the Mail app seems to work fine with all other e-mail providers except AOL. It keeps asking for passwords when they have been given multiple times and are stored, multiple times, in the keychain. It hangs up when trying to send e-mail through AOL and Connection Doctor keeps saying cannot connect to this SMTP Server, even when all the settings are correct. When, or when, will Apple come up with a reliable Mail app????

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