Mac Mail receiving but not sending. smtp not working

Question

Mac Mail receiving but not sending. smtp not working

I have been using Mac Mail with my Gmail account without any trouble for the last few years and just for the last 2-3 weeks I cannot send any e-mails. I am receiving without any problems, but no matter what I do it won't send, not even an e-mail to myself. My Calendar is set up to send my notifications and those won't even go. I have verified my settings (time and time again), I deleted and reset-up my account, in the last two weeks I have done everything I can, but can't figure it out so I am getting kind of desperate. I am sure that it is something to do with smtp but all of my settings for that are right too (in accordance to the Gmail and Apple sites). What I have done is just read and responded to my e-mails (when I do it offline) and then I have to log into my gmail account and copy/paste ALL of my e-mails manually, which I am sure you can imagine is extremely inefficient. Thank you to anyone who can help!

Running Mac OS X 10.6.8 with Mail 4.5 and accessing Gmail

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on May 21, 2012 9:41 AM

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Answer 1

May 21, 2012 10:07 AM in response to That Canadian

Here is a screen shot too, not that it says much, but this is what I always get, no matter the settings (since they are all correct! OH! I guess I should also mention that I currently live in Africa and that I am using my Blackberry Bold as a modem to get internet on my computer, but I have been doing that since last year and never had a problem until now.

Also, I did just very recently (as in a couple weeks ago), insert a new modem to my computer to try a second method of getting the internet on my computer other than my phone, and it didn't really work so I am back to just the phone again... would that simple installation have anything to do with Mail not sending e-mail? I can't imagine that it would, But I have seen stranger things.

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Answer 2

ajtbar1

Level 1

0 points

Jun 12, 2012 7:41 AM in response to That Canadian

The same just happened to me. I was using the same SMTP settings for years (3 different SMTP servers for 3 different email accounts) with OS X 10.7.4 and Mail 5.2... all of a sudden they all stopped working. I can receive but not send for all these accounts. Email is working fine on iPhone and iPad. No settings were changed -- why all of a sudden am can't I send using Mail on my Macbook Pro? Any outbound emails just stick in the Outbox and never send.

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Answer 3

Sulimo

Level 1

145 points

Jun 13, 2012 5:25 AM in response to That Canadian

Same problem here. I'm pretty sure this is an ATT/yahoo issue, if that's your internet provider. It usually lasts a few days and then disappears. It's frustrating, to say the least!

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Answer 4

ajtbar1

Level 1

0 points

Jun 13, 2012 6:28 AM in response to Sulimo

I'm not using ATT or Yahoo. I'm a tech guy and I still haven't gotten to the bottom of this.. bizarre.

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Answer 5

Sulimo

Level 1

145 points

Jun 13, 2012 6:38 AM in response to ajtbar1

Interesting... well, if you figure it out, would love to hear what worked for you, if you have a minute.

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Answer 6

ajtbar1

Level 1

0 points

Jun 15, 2012 6:38 AM in response to Sulimo

After a couple days, Mail started sending messages properly again. There was no science to it, it just all of a sudden started working again. Odd...

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Answer 7

Sulimo

Level 1

145 points

Jun 15, 2012 7:29 AM in response to ajtbar1

Yep, same here, it suddenly started up yesterday... Got all the emails that were held up (I wasn't receiving either) and it sent all the mails that were sitting there in the outox. I even came to the forums to see if people were still posting about it, and I didn't see anything current. The most curious thing to me is that I thought I had it figured out that it was an ATT/Yahoo issue but you said you didn't use them... very odd.

Thanks for posting.

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Answer 8

apl4kt

Level 1

5 points

Jan 3, 2013 5:42 AM in response to That Canadian

Yes, I have also been getting the same on and off for the past 10 months since I received this Macbook Air and moved to using iMail to send/receive gmail, yahoo & suaveco.com email. It is random, comes and goes. One day it is fine, the next not, for no reason. I am online in all sorts of different places all over the world, seems to make no difference, this seems nothing to do with how I get online. I sometimes restart iMail and it improves, or restart the computer and it improves. Ridiculously annoying given how wonderful Steve & the Apple team claimed to be, I very much look forward to this getting improved please!

I would even be willing to pay for a small app/plugin/upgrade to use to stop it happening.

Tried switching to Sparrowmail which is a nice app where I don't think this issue happened, but Sparrow doesn't allow me to view my folders which I need to keep life organised, so had to go back to iMail.

Also hope iMail can PLEASE offer chance to change colour from the dreadfully boring grey I have to look at for hours each day. Options or skins PLEASE!!

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