Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

apple mail sending and receiving problems under 10.8.2

I have upgraded from 10.6.8. to 10.8.2 (Mountain Lion).


All Apps work perfekt only Apple mail has very often problems with sending and receiving mails. After the upgrade I opened system preferences and set up iCloud and all other accounts. After the first start of mail all accounts were online and I could receive and send mails from all accounts (iCloud, AOL, Gmail and my Austrian provider A1).


When i started up my MacBook next time and then mail only A1 (a POP account) was online, iCloud, AOL and Gmail (all thre are IMAP accounts) were offline. I checked the connections and got the message that the SMTP server of those accounts couldn't be reached.


I opened preference in mail and checked all informations in all accounts, there was everything correct. So i deleted the iCloud account and installed it new but it was the same. So I tryed to put in my Apple ID and my password again and saved the informations. After this action all accounts were online. 😐🙂


Fact: Always when I start my MacBook new and then mail i have to open the prefs in mail and i have to set up the informations for IMAP and SMTP new. Then it works. This is boring and I have no idea what to do that Apple mail works as perfect as it did under 10.6.8. 😠


Is this a known bug in Apple mail or what else?😕


Firewal is not activated, internet connection works, permissions are repaired and all account informations (server, adress, ports ...) are correct ....


I hope someone of you can help me 😐🙂



Thanks and best regards from Klosterneuburg/Austria

Andy

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 2,66 GHz Intel Core i7

Posted on Mar 2, 2013 11:33 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Mar 2, 2013 11:54 AM

Sorry can't help, but I am having similar problem too, since yesterday - I have ben running Lion on a 2007 Macbook

21 replies

Mar 2, 2013 1:02 PM in response to MelJP

Ma daughter has a PowerBook 2003 with Lion. She uses her @me.com and @mac.com mailadress via iCloud without any problems (also no problems in the apple mail) .....


I would never upgrade to Mountain Lion but i needed the new MS office and this doesn't work under 10.6. This is the main reason for the upgrade. But there are many features in Mountain Lion which are not so useful for me.


Hope the mail problem will be solved very soon. If I'd like **** and troubles with a computer I'd have a windows pc not a Mac!!! *LoL* 😠

Mar 2, 2013 2:37 PM in response to Andreas Bigler

Andreas:


There are two issues here:


  1. There's a current (temporary) problem with Apple's iCloud IMAP server wherein some folks are unable to login using a mail client. As far as I can tell it started yesterday (March 1). It's not a universal problem. Some users aren't experiencing any problems at all. Other users report that they can't connect to the server using Mail.app, but I've had no problem there. However, I can't login using SeaMonkey's Mail & Newsgroups app, or with Thunderbird. I haven't heard of anyone not being able to login via webmail. Apparently the problem is confined to logging in from a mail client. The SMTP (outgoing mail) server isn't affected as far as I know. I've reported the problem to Apple Care, and the person I spoke to confirmed that she's experiencing exactly the same problem. She advised me that Apple knows about the problem and they're working on it.
  2. There's a longer term problem with immediate connectivity to the IMAP server. It frequently shows up as an inability of the server to immediately write a sent message to the Sent folder. I experience that problem frequently, and it's a nuisance. Often the server times out, and my mail client (SeaMonkey) has to prompt me to retry writing the message to the Sent folder. This is a persistent but intermittent problem. That is, sometimes it disappears, and other times it takes several retry attempts to write the message to the Sent folder.


The first problem is temporary, and there's nothing you can do to fix it. It's Apple's problem to solve.


The second problem is ongoing, and it's not limited to OS X 10.8.2. Whether its a bandwidth problem or something else I can't say, but you're not the only person experiencing it. It's not system-related as far as I can tell. I have no clues that would lead me to believe that there's anything I (or you) can do to "fix" it...at least, to the extent that you and I are experiencing the same problem. I suppose it's possible that there might be a local bandwidth problem, wherein the Internet connection is suffering from congestion. But for my part, that doesn't seem to be the case. There are definitely times when I have good connectivity to the Internet, yet I still have difficulty with Apple mail server connectivity.

Mar 3, 2013 12:32 PM in response to freevito

freevito, thanks for your answer!


It helps a little cause it shows me that I'm not the idiot who doesn't know anything 😉


But the intereseting fact ist that I haven't any troubles with Apple Mail on the Powerbook with 10.5.x and also not on the MacBook with 10.6.x! Connection Problems with Apple Mail I have only when using a Mac with 10.8.2. 😐


There is not a connection problem to the internet and I can receive and send mails via the webmail (wit the browsers Safari or Firefox). But at the same time Apple mail says "no connection". After starting the computer and running Apple mail the first time I have to config all informations new, than everything works fine. That's not really funny and helpful! 😠


As I understand you say all the problems with Apple mail have to be fixed by the Apple team cause it's not a user mistake?!


Will it be useful contacting Apple or is it better being patient and waiting until this bug is fixed????


Regards

Andy

Mar 3, 2013 6:48 PM in response to Andreas Bigler

Andreas Bigler wrote:


...As I understand you say all the problems with Apple mail have to be fixed by the Apple team cause it's not a user mistake?!


Will it be useful contacting Apple or is it better being patient and waiting until this bug is fixed????


Regards

Andy

It's definitely not a "user mistake". I have an associate who lives about 2,000 miles from my location, and she's having the same problem.


As I mentioned in my previous message, the Apple Care specialist told me that Apple is aware of the problem and they're working on it. That seems to be true, because I was able to connect to the IMAP server this afternoon for the first time in about 48 hours. But it was only temporary; shortly thereafter, I lost the server connection again, and I haven't been able to log in since then.


You can try contacting Apple, but I'm very doubtful that it's going to be useful. This is a widespread problem that's affecting many users across a broad geographical area. The server is simply not accepting logins from various mail applications. In my case, SeaMonkey and Thunderbird don't work, but Apple's Mail.app connects with no problem. And I can connect to webmail via a browser. But others have reported that they can't login with Mail.app, so my experience doesn't necessarily apply to everyone.


I suspect that the best course of action is to let Apple solve the problem, and use a workaround in the meantime. If you have another mail account (say, through your ISP), you can connect to your iCloud mail account via a browser and set the preferences to forward all your mail your other address until Apple fixes the problem. The other alternative is to just use webmail in the interim.

Mar 4, 2013 12:43 AM in response to freevito

Thanks freevito!


Your assertions helped me in believing that I'm not too stupid for setting up a mail account 😝


Beside that I have the problems with Thunderbird too. But here it's possible to connect to all of my other mail accounts exept iCloud! 😐


The strange fact in Apple mail is that I can connect to my A1-account (this is my local ISP). It's strange because this is a POP account but in the manual Apple says POP is not supported 😕


Anyway thanks again for your assertions and I hope Apple will solve these problems soon! 😐


Regards

Andy

Mar 4, 2013 11:08 AM in response to Andreas Bigler

Andy:


I'm just following up to make sure you've heard about the solution. As it turns out, Apple did something that changed the username syntax it requires for login to the IMAP server. Evidently, the syntax change requires that you drop the domain name from your username. For example, if your username is andyxxx@mac.com or andyxxx@mac.com or andyxxx@mac.com, just change your username to andyxxx, without the domain name suffix, and that should clear up the problem. You might have to re-enter your password...at least, that's what I had to do when I changed my username in SeaMonkey's mail app. But after I did that, all of the messages I've missed since Friday flooded into my Inbox.


I'm not sure why Apple changed the required username syntax on the server end, but this isn't the first time it has happened. The next time it happens, at least I'll have a clue what to try in order to fix it.

Mar 5, 2013 1:31 AM in response to freevito

Thanks but I know about this. It doesn't matter if I use my username with @mac.com (@icloud.com) or without. Mostly it doesn't work. When mail in 10.8.2 is set up first time this all happens automatically. I think I tried all possibilities more than 50 times but mostly it doesn't work. Always after a new start of the computer I have to set up all informations new then the SMPT gets connection but mostly not the IMAP. This needs up to 6 or 7 tries and than it works as long as i shut down the computer.


I will check this out for the rest of the week and if the bugs are still existing I will use the forwarding function to receive all IMAP mails over the POP of my ISP until Apple has a solution for this problem.


Regards

Andy

Mar 5, 2013 11:00 AM in response to Andreas Bigler

Hi Andy:


Oh...well, if that doesn't fix it, then I'm not so sure it's an Apple problem any longer. There's no question that it WAS an Apple problem, and that dropping the domain name from the username solved the problem for many folks who were experiencing it. I've seen many posts in the iCloud forums by folks who immediately resolved their IMAP server connection problems by simply removing the "@domain" from their username, and then they were able to connect to the server.


By the way, that username syntax directly contradicts the instructions in the following support article:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4864.

So there's no question that Apple has changed something on the server end.


Anyhow, if dropping the "@domain" from your username doesn't work for you, then it sounds like you have a different problem...or maybe an additional problem. At this point, I would NOT recommend that you wait for Apple to find a solution. It probably would be best to contact support.

Mar 8, 2013 2:59 PM in response to freevito

An absolutely interesting fact:


Yesterday I was outdoor with my MacBook and I had to use my "A1-mobile internet connection" . I opened Apple mail and all accounts where online and worked perfect. I thought the connection problem was solved now.


At home I logged on via WLAN and the connection problems where back again. I tried it again with the mobile connection an Apple mail worked.


I called my ISP for support but they could not find any bug. Not only for me also for the technican this is absolutely strange. Like me he assumes that this is a bug in Mountain Lion because the connectionproblem exists since the upgrade to ML and not before ....


Really strange!

apple mail sending and receiving problems under 10.8.2

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.