Apple Mail - all accounts offline

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Level 1

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Apple Mail - all accounts offline

Without warning all of my email accounts are completely offline on my MacBook Pro running Mavericks 10.9.3. My Mail version is 7.3.

I cannot send or receive. Clicking on "Take all Accounts Online" has no effect, and doesn't even bring up an error message or info box. It might possibly have happened after the mac was asleep, but hard to tell - I just noticed it in the middle of the day when I hadn't had any mail for a while.

I have quit and re-opened Mail a few times, re-started the mac a couple of times but neither of those helped. The connection doctor gives everything a red blob. And I definitely have a network connection.

I can get Mail for all the same accounts on my iPad and iPhone, so the problem is not with the accounts, and they are a mixture of POP and IMAP accounts with various providers, so no common theme.

Any ideas as to what I should try next?

Cheers

Posted on Jul 3, 2014 3:13 AM

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Answer 1

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Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Jul 3, 2014 10:14 AM in response to el Benjamino

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.

Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.

Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.

The login screen appears even if you usually login automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

Test while in safe mode. Same problem?

After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

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Answer 2

el Benjamino Author

Level 1

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Jul 3, 2014 3:08 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks for the help. I'm slightly kicking myself that I didn't think to start in safe mode as a starting point to troubleshoot this.

As you say, it took an awfully long time to boot in safe mode. However, once up and running my mail accounts were all fine and working correctly. I then rebooted the mac as normal, and the accounts were still working. Time will tell if they continue to be OK, but it is, at the moment, all working fine, so again, many thanks.

Can I ask how booting in safe mode might have fixed this? Do some of the preference files get reset, or caches cleared or something?

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