Mavericks IMAP connection issues over wireless

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Level 1

0 points

Mavericks IMAP connection issues over wireless

I am having intermittent IMAP server connection issues on my Macbook pro when wirelessly connected to my home network. Other machines (both cabled devices and wireless devices) are fine. Other email accounts (Gmail and iCloud) are fine. It's just when connecting to my ISP's IMAP server. All settings in the MAIL app are correct (i have checked fifty times) and I have uninstalled / reinstalled the account several times.

If I set up the account, all is well for a little while, then I get a "Can't connect to IMAP server, connection on port 143 has timed out" error message.

Any thoughts / ideas?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Jan 10, 2014 2:28 AM

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Answer 1

PDXgeek

Level 1

10 points

Jan 16, 2014 9:18 AM in response to NippyNW

No shortage of pre-existing threads on Mavericks mail issues...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5537223

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5468189

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5714601

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5556036

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4152515

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5679427

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5780305?answerId=24483692022#24483692022

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

685,293 points

Jan 16, 2014 9:23 AM in response to NippyNW

Troubleshooting sending and receiving email messages

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Answer 3

NippyNW Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 25, 2014 4:26 AM in response to PDXgeek

Sadly no solutions though. :-(

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Answer 4

NippyNW Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 25, 2014 4:29 AM in response to NippyNW

It runs fine for a few hours, then I get the connection on port 143 has timed out error, then it seems to screw my home WiFi connection. iPads, iPhone & PC are fine. It's either Mail or mavericks. Only way out is to delete the email account, delete anything related in Keychain, then re-set up the mail account. Weird.

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Answer 5

Bertie64

Level 1

0 points

Apr 7, 2014 2:55 AM in response to NippyNW

Same probem here, happens about once a week on average I suppose.

Mail "Connection Doctor" just keeps spinning,

Network "Diagnostic" says everything fine... but no websites will load.

PC's seem fine,

iPad seems to be OK (but not always).

No idea what causes it and have been through the whole PITA process of deleting and setting up accounts again, and again, and again...

The last few times the problem went away after I just turned everything off (Mac, Airport, Modem), had a coffee (probably not essential), and then restarted everything (Modem, Airport, Mac). Also I am pretty sure the problem went away once after I changed my DNS server address in Network settings (to Google I think) and rebooted the Mac.

Still bloody annoying, and searches each time it happens seem to offer nothing on why or a permanent fix. I guess it must be a Mavericks/Mail issue. Let's hope someone addresses it soon.

Anyway, this reboot of everything has been working - for me at least - and is somewhat less inconvenient than redoing the whole account each time. YMMV.

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Answer 6

Mar 16, 2016 6:24 AM in response to Bertie64

Any news on this issue two years later? I have two computers, four e-mail accounts on two different ISPs and they all behave the same, as described above. My new Macbook had this issue first, but it surfaced later on my older MBP. Changing SSL or port settings does nothing. Taking accounts offline and online again does nothing.

This used to be an issue maybe once per hour, but now it's every 5 minutes.

I can consistently get the connections to go online by turning WiFi off and on again.

Home network runs Airport Extreme (ver 7.7.3) extended by an Airport Express (ver 7.6.4)

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