Can't get mail to go online with .Mac

Aside from whatever other problems there could be
with .Mac itself, your "I get headers, but no mail"
problem could probably be fixed by rebuilding the
mailbox, i.e. select it and do Mailbox >
Rebuild.

Sorry, David, I wasn't completely clear in stating the problem. The headers are just for new mail waiting on the server, but they don't get downloaded by Mail, because I can't get online. Could the fact that I'm in China have anything to do with it? This is what I get when I click on the header to read the apparently new message:

The message from qi he <qhrebecca@hotmail.com> concerning “Hello, teacher” has not been downloaded from the server. You need to take this account online in order to download it.

After a while, the headers vanish.

Frank

What does "I can't get online" mean? Have you tried
rebuilding the mailbox or not?

Can't get it to go online is the situation that's causing me trouble:

"There may be a problem with the mail server or network. Check the settings for account "Mac" or try again.

The server error encountered was: The attempt to read data from the server "mail.mac.com" failed."

This has been going on intermittently for several months and lasts for days at a time. The mailbox on my Mac is fine; all the old mail that's supposed to be there is there. I just have trouble for days on end getting new mail. All I get from the server is the header with the blue dot next to it, but no body attached.

AFAIK, if Mail > Preferences > Accounts > Advanced

Keep copies of messages for offline viewing is

set to All messages and their attachments, and
you still cannot read your mail properly while
offline, then your mailbox is not fine, as
that's precisely what that setting is for. In order
to fix that problem, you'll have to rebuild
the mailbox when (and if) you can successfully
establish a reliable connection to the server.

As to the connection problems, there is little you
can do, or rather, little I can tell you to do, other
than going to Apple Menu > System Preferences >
Network > Show: Network Port Configurations and
making sure that the configuration used to connect to
Internet is at the top of the list. Also, disable any
communications/networking configuration enabled, but
not in use.

Hi David,

Thanks for your patience and tenacity. My wife and I just returned from a five-day trip to Tibet where we had no Internet access, thank heaven.

The problem persists; I can't get any new mail. I can read the old stuff just fine, but can't get any new mesages from the server. Just for the heck of it I did a "Rebuild Mailbox" as you suggsted, and now I have no mail at all. I'm sure that will be fixed whenever I can get a reliable connection to the server. It seems many folks here are also having similar problems with Yahoo mail. It must be a China thing.

I'll keep you posted.

Frank

My account is set up as .Mac. The problem has been gone for a few days; let's hope for longer.

Many thanks for your help and advice.

Warmest regards,

Frank

My first use of this forum has been an excellent experience.