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Mail takes 9 minutes to download and says "resuming interrupted append"

Recently I have begun to have problems getting my mail. After I click "get mail" it takes about 9 minutes to download from msn. This is a real problem as when the download is happening the ball spins and I can do little else but wait -- Safari is extremely slow or will not work when the mail is downloading. The phrase that shows up is "resuming interrupted append." I have rebuilt mail and used disc utility to repair permissions. Thank you.

iBook, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on May 25, 2006 11:07 AM

57 replies

May 27, 2006 8:38 PM in response to StephanieA

Stephanie,

I'm starting a new sub-thread here to make it easier for you to ignore my digression with Allan, which, although relevant, is probably of little interest to you. I'll try to answer Allan's question as to what could be the reason you are still experiencing problems with incoming mail:

if she moved the account's INBOX.mbox
out of the account named folder to the Desktop
which creates a new INBOX.mbox within the account
named folder when re-launching Mail, what is the
reason the download process is still taking so long?

It could be that there is some filesystem corruption here (actually, this could also be the reason INBOX.mbox has developed problems). Thus, you should start by verifying/reparing the disk (not just permissions), as described here:

The Repair functions of Disk Utility: what's it all about?

I know you said you had already tried repairing permissions, but that's not what I'm talking about. You also said you had "rebuilt mail". Could you please clarify what does that mean? What exactly did you do to "rebuild mail"?

PS: Allan, I'd like to take a look at that script. I'll send you an email if you don't mind to continue privately with this.

May 30, 2006 7:13 PM in response to Allan Sampson

For those interested in the issue,

Based on email replies after forwarding the script,
it has successfully recovered messages from a
severely corrupt mailbox with a supporting file or
all supporting files combined larger than the mbox
package file.

I've scrutinized what the script does, and it just splits the mbox file that's within the *.mbox folder/package into smaller pieces, and puts them into a separate folder where no supporting files are present. It doesn't look at the supporting files accompanying the mbox file at all.

I don't know what is it that causes the supporting files to become so large in some cases, but I've found nothing that supports the hypothesis that Mail stores actual messages into them. If the script helps importing those mailboxes it's because the messages are all in the mbox file.

I don't understand either why that script helped in cases where the mbox file itself wasn't too large for Mail to be able to handle it. If the script allowed Mail to import the mailbox in those cases, just removing the supporting files from the *.mbox folder/package and telling Mail to import it using "Other" as the data format should have worked as well.

PS: Note that we are talking about Mail 1.x here. This discussion is irrelevant for Mail 2.0 (Tiger) users.

StephanieA Author

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May 31, 2006 7:14 AM in response to Allan Sampson

Yes, I did try moving it to the desktop after quitting Mail. It did not create a new inbox.mbox. I am still having the problem.

I have a 10 gig hard drive. Available: 2.82 gigs.

Thank you.

StephanieA Author

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May 31, 2006 7:37 AM in response to David Gimeno Gost

Thanks. I will answer your e-mail in a minute but wanted to add the newest events. This morning I was able to get my mail but as of a few minutes ago I can neither send nor receive.

StephanieA Author

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May 31, 2006 8:41 AM in response to David Gimeno Gost

I am only able to repair permissions because when I go to disc utility the "repair disc" is greyed out and is not an option.

I am checking on the question about rebuild mail as someone else did it for me.

May 31, 2006 8:52 AM in response to StephanieA

I am only able to repair permissions because when I
go to disc utility the "repair disc" is greyed out
and is not an option.

That's why I provided you a reference to an article that explains this in greater detail, instead of just telling you to do "Repair Disk"...

I am checking on the question about rebuild mail as
someone else did it for me.

I have no idea what are you talking about here.

StephanieA Author

Level 1

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May 31, 2006 9:04 AM in response to David Gimeno Gost

Mail rebuild: I go to the Mailbox pulldown menu and under that is an option "rebuild" and I click on that.

I tried to access my e-mail on the Web site as I have been doing periodically while this has been going on. This morning when I went there I could not access it. I called msn and found that they have closed my account. I do not know why but was told it could be spamming which is mystifying since I only send e-mail to people I know. Anyway I have put in the reinstatement request which should take 2 to 4 hours I am told. This is I guess the reason I cannot send or receive today.

StephanieA Author

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May 31, 2006 9:24 AM in response to David Gimeno Gost

You say you have no idea what I am talking about. I was answering this question of yours:

You also said you had "rebuilt mail". Could you please clarify what does that mean? What exactly did you do to "rebuild mail"?<<</div>

May 31, 2006 9:51 AM in response to StephanieA

I was answering this question of yours

The problem is that your reply didn't really answered that question. You've answered it in another post below, though, so I believe I now know what you meant.

You still should verify/repair your disk, as described in the article I mentioned in a previous post.

And yes, you cannot expect Mail to work properly until your mail account is re-enabled at the server.

StephanieA Author

Level 1

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May 31, 2006 3:07 PM in response to David Gimeno Gost

I did repair the disc using the startup CD but no problems were found.

I opened up another msn account while this other matter is pending and put its address for user name (where the old msn address had been) and its password in the password box at Mail under Accounts > Account Information. The download problem is still the same but now I cannot send e-mails.

May 31, 2006 5:08 PM in response to StephanieA

Stephanie, this is getting really messy. Are you saying that, instead of creating a new account in Mail, you just changed the settings of the old one? If so, chances are that you've lost all the mail that was stored in the old account mailboxes. Aren't you missing any messages? Also, that sending doesn't work now shouldn't be a surprise, as it seems you've changed the settings for the incoming server only, but are still using the old settings for the outgoing server...

StephanieA Author

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May 31, 2006 7:26 PM in response to David Gimeno Gost

I guess I really did something wrong? Yes, I only changed the user name and the password; nothing else. I figured one msn address would be interchangeable with another; they are both subaccounts of the same master account. No, I did not lose any e-mails when I did this. There are all still there and accessible. What should I do?

StephanieA Author

Level 1

0 points

May 31, 2006 7:34 PM in response to StephanieA

Maybe I should clarify what I said. I mean both msn accounts -- the original and the one I substituted -- are both subaccounts of the same master msn account.

May 31, 2006 8:37 PM in response to StephanieA

I don't understand what do you mean when you say that they "are both subaccounts of the same master msn account". Either they have the same User Name or they don't.

If they have the same User Name, then they are indeed the same mail account, but you wouldn't have to change anything in Mail in order to use the new account, if that was the case.

If they have a different User Name, then they are different mail accounts and you should have created a new account in Mail, leaving the other untouched.

Could it be that you're confusing the User Name and the Email Address fields in Preferences > Accounts > Account Information? Which is the one you changed? Or did you change both?

Also, I'm wondering now... Did all your incoming messages remain in Mail as well after you moved INBOX.mbox out of the account folder? Didn't the INBOX in Mail appear empty after following Allan's instructions?

StephanieA Author

Level 1

0 points

Jun 1, 2006 9:16 AM in response to David Gimeno Gost

We have an msn account with one main e-mail address. Our msn account allows us to create other sub-e-mail accounts each with its own e-mail address, password, mailbox, etc. Fro years I have used one subaccount which msn closed yesterday so I opened another subaccount. Today msn turned that account back on so I replaced that information back and I still cannot send.

On my program the box labeled user name is where the msn e-mail address goes. The e-mail address box is where I put the e-mail addresses that are forwarded to the msn address. They are not the same thing. For example, let's say I have stephanie@mydomainname.com forwarded to stephanie@msn.com . The former goes in the e-mail box and the latter goes in the user name. That is the way it has been set up for a couple of years and has always worked.

I ONLY changed the user name (msn e-mail address) and the password. As I said, I have put it back the way it was yesterday and still cannot send.

While the downloading problem is not fixed, that is now superseded by the fact that I cannot send from my mail program and wish to fix that first.

The in box has never been empty. No duplicate was ever created when I followed the instructions last week.

Thanks.

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Mail takes 9 minutes to download and says "resuming interrupted append"