Long-standing problem sending from Mail; will reinstalling help?

On two tries the installer failed to open. It, too, hung up -- at the language selection stage. Finally, I booted the system, ejected the disk, reinserted it, and the installer ran. I was unclear about what I was to do in this case and aborted.

Do I have to reinstall the entire operating system just to ge Mail reinstalled or can I install it separately?

Thanks,

OK. Thanks. I'll let you know how it goes.

I've reinstalled OS X (Snow Leopard). It will take a while to determine whether Mail is behaving after the install. I sure hope so. Mail is not perfect, but I have not found another email client that I like as well.

That said, having struggled with this in the ways I've described over a period of at least several months and maybe a year, my sense is that something is wrong with OS X/Mail in this regard. If you Google this problem you will find that many people have had it. You will not, however -- if my experience is any guide -- find a solution.

I sure hope this one works. If it does not, I can only hope the next update of OS X, which I understand is due out in a couple months, will have fixed the problem.

I'll report back when I know whether the problem has been eliminated or not.

etresoft wrote:

EricWeir wrote:

Is it possible that reinstalling Mail will solve the problem?

No. Reinstalling is a waste of time that will only cause new problems.

Too late. The reinstall is done. What problems should I expect?

What e-mail server is this? It is likely just some flaky server.

Are you asking about my ISP or server address? The ISP is AT&T with Yahoo email.

Have you made any modifications to your DNS system?

I have been using OpenDNS most of the time for the past year or so. The technician I hired tried setting the IPv4 configuration manually and experimented with different DNS addresses. The Genius Bar set it back to DHCP, which seemed to make a difference at the time. It's still set on configure by DHCP. I have the two DNS addresses given by OpenDNS and one given to me by the technician on my DNS address list.

Have you edited /etc/hosts?

Don't know what it is, so the answer is, No.

Have you checked your Console.app logs?

I did once, but there was so much information and I had no idea what to look for anyway.

Have you tried it in a new account to check for corrupt preference files?

Not sure what you mean by a new account. If you mean with an ISP, I've only got one. I wouldn't know how to go about creating another.

Regarding corrupt preference files, I guess this is not one of those situations in which you can simply delete the applications plist file and get a fresh one generated?

Linc Davis wrote:

I think one of the most common causes of problems with Mail is that people install third-party add-ons, or hacks as I call them, to modify its operation. The hacks may seem to work for a while, but eventually a system update makes them incompatible. The user forgets about them, doesn't update them, and doesn't associate them with his problem. That's why I advise anyone who has inexplicable problems using Mail to test it in safe mode.

I did try Mail Act-On briefly, possibly as much as a couple years ago. It is supposed to simpllify message filing and other actions on messages. I was interested in it for help in filing outgoing messages. I didn't find it that helpful and installed it not long after installed it. That was well before I started experiencing this problem.

Thanks for the informative response.

etresoft wrote:

I am talking about your SMTP address. You have at least two e-mail addresses. There is your IMAP/POP server for your incoming mail and your SMTP server for your outgoing mail.

Some ISPs don't like people connecting to any other SMTP servers but their own and will intercept any SMTP port 25 connections. Then, when you use your Yahoo credentials to try to connect to SMTP, the ATT server will intercept it and reject your login attempt. To avoid this, always configure your e-mail to use SSL. It is more secure anyway.

Throughout this process my incoming and outgoing servers have remained unchanged. And in mentioning AT&T/Yahoo I didn't mean to suggest that I had two sets. Yahoo is the email provider for AT&T. My SMTP address, e.g., is smtp.att.yahoo.com. Per AT&T's instructions the port for outgoing mail is 465. SSL is also used.

I have been using OpenDNS most of the time for the past year or so. The technician I hired tried setting the IPv4 configuration manually and experimented with different DNS addresses. The Genius Bar set it back to DHCP, which seemed to make a difference at the time. It's still set on configure by DHCP. I have the two DNS addresses given by OpenDNS and one given to me by the technician on my DNS address list.

I'll take that as a "yes". OpenDNS isn't bad. I don't like the idea of technician "experimenting". Who knows what else was changed.

Thanks for the reassurance about OpenDNS. I have been getting different reactions when I tell the people from whom I've been seeking help that I use it. And I believe the technician, whom I have used for years, did identify and, with AT&T's help, fix some associated internet connection problems. And when I switched over to the other two email clients I did not experience the problem one time.

I did once, but there was so much information and I had no idea what to look for anyway.

That is what we are for. Run Console.app and then try to trigger your e-mail problem. If the problem occurs, copy and paste the most recent Console.app entires here and we can tell you if there is something amiss than can be easily fixed.

I don't know how to trigger the email problem. [If I did, I might have a solution. -;) ] Can I take the alternative approach of checking Console entries when I experience the problem? Or does Console have to be running in order to log the events? If so, could I just keep it running the next few days till I know one way or another whether the problem has been solved by the reinstall? [I've not encountered it so far, but there hasn't been much outgoing mail the past couple days.]

Not sure what you mean by a new account. If you mean with an ISP, I've only got one. I wouldn't know how to go about creating another.

I mean a new account on your computer. Some of the preference files can be hard to track down. If you can reliably reproduce this problem on demand. Create a new account on your Mac, setup the e-mail the same way it is on the old account, and try to reproduce the problem. If you can't, then you can copy the most recently modified preference files in ~/Library/Preferences back to your home account. That is an easy way to fix preference files if you aren't sure which ones have problem or how to fix them.

I'm inclined to wait to try this till I experience the problem. And by "new account on your computer" I'm taking you to be referring to an internet connection account, i.e., to duplicating the current one under a different name to see if that solves the problem.

You say if it does to copy the recently modified preferences back to the home account. Since I would be duplicating the current account, couldn't I simply continue using it as my home account?

Thanks again,

Eric Weir

Well, I just had my first hang-up on send. I clicked on "Try with selected server" and it went right out. I suspect that will stop working soon. When the problem returns to its previous level of seriousness I'll try the suggestion of creating a new account.

I really do wish Apple and AT&T would put their heads together on this.