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No Mail Sound After Update

I just updated my OS to 10.5.8.

I have no sounds in Mail version 3.6. I checked preferences, New Mail Sounds is on. My volume is on.

Any suggestions? Thanks - Fabe

iMac G5 and iBook G3 (10 yrs. old!), Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Dec 30, 2010 3:55 AM

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21 replies

Jan 1, 2011 5:32 AM in response to Fabe

67 views and no one has an idea why there is no sound? Come on good people, it's a new year, shake off the cobwebs, dust off the recall. Why is my newly installed Mail v3.6 with Mac OS 10.5.8 not making a sound? The preferences are set correctly. My sound is on. So why no sound for incoming mail?

A happy new year to one and all. - Fabe

Mar 18, 2011 11:45 PM in response to skybunkerboy

I suffered from this same problem, so I did some research here in Apple Discussions and in the Wikipedia, and I think I've pulled together the accumulated wisdom to solve this issue here in this one place.

First, the bad news. It would be incorrect logic to conclude that there is a bug in an application merely because it no longer works as it once did. It would also be unwise to expect Apple to provide a "major update" to an application associated with an operating system (Leopard) that it is no longer developing, especially when there does not seem to be a "glitch" to begin with.

The good news is that the problem of mail notification sounds disappearing, or not playing any longer, may be related getting things correctly set-up in three sets of otherwise unrelated settings:

1) ...the User Interface sound effects, as controlled by the Sound Effects tab of the Sound control panel (pane) of your System Preferences. You need to make sure that the check box "Play user interface sound effects" is checked ON, in order for your incoming New Mail sounds to be heard, as well as for your outgoing WHOOSH! sent mail sound to be activated. Apparently, the User Interface sound effects check box functions as some kind of master control switch that determines whether or not your Finder sound effects, like emptying the trash, will play, as well as whether or not you get to hear your incoming mail sounds.

2) ..."the Play sounds for other mail actions" check box, associated with the "New mail sound" pull-down menu, which is found on the General tab of the Apple Mail application's preferences settings. You need to make sure that "the Play sounds for other mail actions" check box is checked ON. You can select the incoming sound you want to hear from the pull-down menu. (You can also add custom sounds to those which are built-in by default, but look elsewhere for instructions how to add such sounds to your system.)

3) ...the IDLE command, as switched ON or OFF at the Advanced tab of the Accounts preferences section of the Apple Mail application. In order to hear the Incoming Mail sound, leave the check box "Use IDLE command if the server supports it" blank, i.e, turn it OFF. According to information provided in Apple Discussions and in Wikipedia articles, the IDLE commands works in association with IMAP mail servers, like MobileMe, G-Mail, AOL, and others to see to it that when messages arrive on the IMAP mail server, those messages can be immediately "pushed" out to the Apple Mail client, in contrast to the older technology of having the Apple Mail client poll the remote mail servers at intervals, which you determine in the "Check for new mail" area of Apple Mail's General tab, to ask if any messages have arrived, and, if so, to send them along. So, if you turn the IDLE command OFF, you will lose the ability to have email pushed to you the moment it arrives, but, in turn, you will gain the ability to hear incoming mail hit your Inbox, once it does arrive. In my view, turning off the IDLE command is no big loss, since you can control how frequently you want Apple Mail to poll for messages.

If you get your mail from a POP server, you only have to be concerned about getting the settings right on the first two items mentioned here. The IDLE command has no bearing on POP accounts, according to what I've read.

Hope this is useful. Credit is due to the various contributors whose information I drew upon. I merely wrote it out as a reminder for myself, as well as for anyone else wondering where those mail sounds went and how to get them back.

Mar 19, 2011 12:35 AM in response to bowlerboy

Bowlerboy

you didn't get your sound back I take it?

anyway thanks for that - the first 2 I'd already covered - the last one I wasn't aware of but I use pop mail

alas - still no sound I'm afraid (we have 2 Macbooks and a macmini and all 3 are quite mute in mail) It doesn't really bug me too much but its definitely a software glitch - Ubuntu anybody?

Mar 19, 2011 1:15 AM in response to skybunkerboy

You appear to have misinterpreted what I wrote.

By giving attention to those three disparate items that I wrote about, I succeeded in getting my mail sounds back.

Had I not, I would not have bothered to explain my success.

I have no idea why you have a problem, but the between-the-lines message I was conveying implied that the underlying reason why something is not working as hoped may be due to an incorrect combination of settings, not necessarily to a flaw in the software. As I discovered, the software was doing exactly what it was designed to do: I just had to know how to instruct it to do what I wanted it to do, via the correct settings.

Hence, the solution to a problem often rests on applying the correct knowledge on how to use the software, not on assuming that the software design is flawed.

Mar 19, 2011 2:52 AM in response to bowlerboy

bowlerboy
sorry but it wasn't clear - so basically you made sure your systems preferences were set to use alert sounds in the mail app - that is the obvious first step in troubleshooting this one - in my case (and with 2 other machines running 10.6.6 ) this comes up with a great big NADA - ok we've ruled out misconfigured systems preferences - any other suggestions other would be much appreciated.

No Mail Sound After Update

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