Spindoctor
Level 1 (10 points)

Q: Suggestions On How To Fix Mail and Other Problems?

I recently started a discussion outlining my problems where Mail just stopped connecting and my struggles of trying to fix it. I saw lots of views, but got no assistance. Today after taking some time away, I decided to try and see if I could get Mail up and running again. 

 

When attempting to re-add a gmail account I get an error:

 

"The Google IMAP server 'imap.gmail.com' is not responding.  Try checking the network connection, and that the server name is correct.  Otherwise, the server might be temporarily unavailable.  If you continue, you might not be able to receive messages."

 

Tried re-adding the iCloud mail only to get the following:

 

"The iCloud IMAP server "p03-imap.mail.me.com" is not responding.  Try checking the network connection, and that the server name is correct.  Otherwise, the server might be temporarily unavailable.  If you continue, you might not be able to receive messages."

 

Despite the fact that both of these accounts I just tried to add in Mail are working in Postbox and on my iPhone and iPad.  I've also noticed that Notes and the iCloud tabs have since stopped syncing from the MacBook Pro to the devices and I want to scream because I am sick and tired of pulling my hair out trying to get things working again.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with the ISP because when I first tried adding the iCloud account in Mail today, Connection Doctor tells me that "Mail can connect to the internet".... It apparently is an smtp issue that started all of this mess.

 

Does anyone have suggestions/ideas of what might be the root cause or offer any assistance as to why Mail stopped working and how I can for it to connect again?

 

I did NOT change any settings whatsoever when this originally happened.  The iCloud tabs and Notes did sync for awhile after the Mail issue popped up.  I just noticed that Notes had stopped when I updated a note on the computer and the phone didn't update.  And then I discovered that the safari tabs from the computer had stopped syncing to the devices.

 

It's a shame that Postbox works flawlessly and I will probably end up paying for something that should work without so many headaches.  Too bad I can't revert to Snow Leopard --- I guess this is what happens when you try to turn a computer into a giant iPhone/iPad  

MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2011), OS X Mountain Lion, 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7

Posted on Mar 2, 2013 8:18 AM

by Spindoctor,Solvedanswer
Spindoctor Spindoctor
Level 1 (10 points)
A:

I basically tried everything and could never resolve the issue so I started using another email client.

 

I upgraded to Mavericks the other night and Mail works fine now, knock on wood.  Thanks again to everyone who offered input.

Posted on Oct 24, 2013 6:17 PM

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Spindoctor

Q: Suggestions On How To Fix Mail and Other Problems?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Mar 2, 2013 2:23 PM in response to Spindoctor
    Level 9 (73,966 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 2, 2013 2:23 PM in response to Spindoctor

    You might try what Linc Davis suggests in this discussion. It is for crashing, but his suggestion should also take care of corruption problems:

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/21401011#21401011

     

    You can revert to Snow Leopard if you have the OS disks. Backup, boot off the CD, use Disk Utility to erase the disk and reinstall Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard will not install without erasing.

  • by Spindoctor,

    Spindoctor Spindoctor Mar 16, 2013 9:31 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 16, 2013 9:31 AM in response to Eric Root

    Eric,

     

    Thanks for the suggestion but let me offer some bits of clarification:

     

    In my original post that I linked to, I outlined what was happening: Mail just suddenly stopped connecting to all of the accounts I had set up in it and I kept seeing server errors in Connection Doctor.  They basically were IMAP and stmp Gmail problems for every single account, even though Connection Doctor was telling me Mail could connect to the internet.

     

    I fiddled around with things and was pulling my hair out because I could not get anything to connect when I kept trying to bring the accounts back online.  At all.  So I got the bright idea to delete every single account from Preferences and then manually re-add them again.  I then thought I could use Time Machine to restore the Mail/V2 folder to just before the connection problems started occurring so that I could restore all the various mailboxes which I had set up in Mail.  Every single time I'd attempt to restore, I kept getting crazy permission problems so I couldn't restore.

     

    STILL to this day on my MacBook, neither Mail, iCloud tabs in Safari, nor Notes work.  This is despite the fact everything was fine until the server connection issues which I described started.  I know it's not iCloud related because all of these things sync on my iPhone and iPad -- it's just that they no longer work on my MacBook.  It is extremely frustrating because there seems to be no fix, or if there is, I can't find any advice. This is why I started the threads.  I normally have a smoth experience with my Apple products and when things mess up, they really do.  I also have a problem with my AppleTV and a crazy HDCP error that doesn't want to remedy itself so that I can stream certain things, even though I'm using HDCP compliant equipment and cables and it used to work for quite some time before the error started.

     

    Finally, I was just being facetious about rolling back to Snow Leopard.  I know what that entails.  My MacBook came preloaded with Lion and I used it on my other MacBook before I upgraded to my current model.  I also run ML on my Mini, without a hitch.  It just seems like ML is full of problems like the old days when I used Windows 

     

    Oh yeah, the latest development is that Time Machine has now started doing FULL backups for no apparent reason even though I have made no changes and it was doing incremental backups fine for well over 2 years.  So you see that when it rains it pours with my problems.  I'm beginning to think there's a poltergeist inside throwing switches to mess with all things Apple in my life.

     

    Eric Root wrote:

     

    You might try what Linc Davis suggests in this discussion. It is for crashing, but his suggestion should also take care of corruption problems:

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/21401011#21401011

     

    You can revert to Snow Leopard if you have the OS disks. Backup, boot off the CD, use Disk Utility to erase the disk and reinstall Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard will not install without erasing.

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Mar 16, 2013 10:22 AM in response to Spindoctor
    Level 9 (73,966 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 16, 2013 10:22 AM in response to Spindoctor

    Try booting into the Safe Mode.  Shut down the computer and then power it back up. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches and eliminates 3rd party software issues (normally).

                   

    Safe Mode


    Safe Mode - About

     

    Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. If Back-to-My Mac is selected in System Preferences, the Guest account will not work.


    Isolating an issue by using another user account

     



  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Mar 16, 2013 11:08 AM in response to Spindoctor
    Level 9 (73,966 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 16, 2013 11:08 AM in response to Spindoctor

    You also might try asking here:    Gmail Support

     

    iCloud - Mail Troubleshooting

  • by Spindoctor,Solvedanswer

    Spindoctor Spindoctor Oct 24, 2013 6:17 PM in response to Spindoctor
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 24, 2013 6:17 PM in response to Spindoctor

    I basically tried everything and could never resolve the issue so I started using another email client.

     

    I upgraded to Mavericks the other night and Mail works fine now, knock on wood.  Thanks again to everyone who offered input.