writergirl2

Q: mail constantly goes offline

Hi

 

For the last two weeks my Mac Mail continually goes offline and when I click on the wrning triangle I get the following message:

 

There may be a problem with the mail server or network. Verify the settings for account “iCloud” or try again.

The server returned the error: Connections to the server “p12-imap.mail.me.com” on the default ports timed out.


There's nothing wrong with my internet connection, I cana get mail on all my other devices and access it on iCloud.


Does anyone have any ideas - at first it happened once a day. Now it's happening every five minutes.


thanks

WG

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Dec 1, 2015 2:54 PM

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Q: mail constantly goes offline

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  • by phildade,

    phildade phildade May 7, 2016 8:34 AM in response to writergirl2
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 7, 2016 8:34 AM in response to writergirl2

    I am having the same exact problem!  Also with iCloud and gmail... have to use my iphone for mail... my exchange mailboxes work fine

  • by RFK,

    RFK RFK May 17, 2016 9:40 AM in response to writergirl2
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 17, 2016 9:40 AM in response to writergirl2

    Just chiming win to say that I've been having this problem too... Mail works for awhile, then i get the "Connection failed" message on all of my accounts (macmail, gmail, one personal server).

     

    Quitting and restarting mail generally solves the problem temporarily. Also, occasionally it will fix itself temporarily. Either way though... it always comes back.

  • by sahammo,

    sahammo sahammo May 20, 2016 12:29 PM in response to RFK
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 20, 2016 12:29 PM in response to RFK

    Same problem and it is on a brand new iMac. The interesting thing is that I only have my iCloud account setup not the iMac. I have a couple of other pop accounts on my Macbook Pro and iPhone 6s and they have zero problems. I also have the iCloud account on the iPhone and it never has a problem, only the iMac and I get the same message that has been described here...."...“p06-imap.mail.me.com”..."

     

    Clearly this is an Apple related problem. Fortunately the iCloud account is not used for anything significant, just to forward things back and forth to myself most of which takes place in dropbox anyway........

     

    Scott

  • by dgdap,

    dgdap dgdap May 22, 2016 11:13 AM in response to sahammo
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 22, 2016 11:13 AM in response to sahammo

    Same. New Macbook Air, El Capitan; I have an exchange account but the problem is identical, "connection failed, imap server timed out." My old laptop running Yosemite gets email on the same server, works fine. Genius Bar appointment yielded only a temporary fix. Apple has known about this problem for more than a year but no resolution, and no further responses to this thread? Annoyingly lame customer service. Will post if I find a fix, meanwhile $1500 after new purchases my 4 year-old laptop with an old operating system is running better than new with new. I'll have no trouble in the future remembering I don't necessarily need the newest Apple hardware and OS system.

  • by Pijnacker01,

    Pijnacker01 Pijnacker01 May 23, 2016 2:58 AM in response to dgdap
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 23, 2016 2:58 AM in response to dgdap

    Here too. Come on Apple, Mail is a MUST! What is the fix?

  • by SuperFuture,

    SuperFuture SuperFuture May 25, 2016 8:34 AM in response to SuperFuture
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 25, 2016 8:34 AM in response to SuperFuture

    Apple Mail accounts offline.png

    Just keeping it fresh. Still happening. Fairly routinely. And I'm obviously online since I'm posting this. Notice it's both iCloud and Google accounts. What's the deal, yo?

  • by appreciate,

    appreciate May 25, 2016 10:34 AM in response to writergirl2
    Level 4 (1,276 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 25, 2016 10:34 AM in response to writergirl2

    It is due to sudden drop in wi fi connection means wi fi is disconnected for few seconds & an exclamation mark is there on  mail bar .

    To resolve it : please go to system preferences click on network > advanced > TCP/IP > then click on renew DHCP lease ( dynamic host control protocol ) .by doing so server is refreshed .

    Also , if any junk files are created on network we can remove them by method : click on go > finder > keep on holding option key > preferences > the first folder by host will be there .

    Remove the contents of by host folder in trash > restart > empty the trash .

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa May 25, 2016 2:39 PM in response to appreciate
    Level 7 (31,893 points)
    iPad
    May 25, 2016 2:39 PM in response to appreciate

    Also , if any junk files are created on network we can remove them by method : click on go > finder > keep on holding option key > preferences > the first folder by host will be there .

     

    If you are going to continue to post, please post with the correct file path.

     

    There is no Preferences folder directly under the "Go" dropdown - whether you press the Option key or not. You need to open the Library first. And, since the entries in that folder contain the UUUID tied to your machine/system, this should be the last folder to delete during troubleshooting.

  • by Brute_Al,

    Brute_Al Brute_Al Jul 14, 2016 9:55 AM in response to SuperFuture
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 14, 2016 9:55 AM in response to SuperFuture

    Same same same; every day, multiple times a day. All of my accounts (iCloud, three Gmails, and a Yahoo) do this and it is incredibly frustrating. I'm missing time-sensitive emails because sometimes I don't notice that it's happened while I'm working on another desktop, and it's killing me.

     

    I really hope there's a solution, otherwise I'm going to have to find a different mail program, which I'd prefer not to do as I'm so deep into the Apple ecosystem. But I rely on my email for work and this is just untenable...

  • by benleetaylor,

    benleetaylor benleetaylor Aug 4, 2016 8:23 AM in response to writergirl2
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Aug 4, 2016 8:23 AM in response to writergirl2

    Not to revive a somewhat dead thread, but I recently bought a brand new MBP Retina 13", and I was experiencing this same issue. I have an iCloud account, two Gmail accounts, and a university IMAP account set up in Mail, and all accounts would frequently lose connection throughout the day. Connection Doctor didn't provide any useful information, and I tried many of the suggestions found in this thread and others with no success. I was also getting random "timeout" messages from iTunes throughout the day (an issue I've seen others complain about in other help threads) when I wasn't actually doing anything in the app (it's just open in the background). Because of this, I figured that maybe it had something to do with the wireless adapter, and since the laptop is brand new, the most obvious explanation seemed to be a manufacturer defect. (As a side note, the mid-2011 MBP 13" that I upgraded from NEVER had this issue and was running the same version of OS X El Capitan, which made it seem more likely that it was a hardware issue).

     

    Really not wanting to have to go into the Apple Store and hope that my computer would reproduce the error to allow the technicians to troubleshoot it (it happens so erratically that I figured with my luck Mail would work perfectly at the Genius Bar...), I decided to try one last thing that everyone talks about when hardware seems to be acting up: resetting the PRAM/NVRAM. I'm pretty sure other threads about Mail issues have mentioned trying this and not seeing any results, which is why I put it off for so long. Well, I think it might have worked. I'm now a full 24 hours with no Mail disconnects or iTunes "timeout" messages. I know that this was a lot of info to get to the solution, but I thought it might help some people in the future who are searching Google for solutions to this very specific, very odd error.

     

    TL;DR It might not work for everyone, but try resetting the PRAM/NVRAM. So far (24-hours in) it's working for me.

  • by adevkota,

    adevkota adevkota Aug 12, 2016 2:35 PM in response to writergirl2
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 12, 2016 2:35 PM in response to writergirl2

    Hi all, has anyone else figured this out since all the small El Capitan updates ? I'm still having this issue running the latest operating system on a 2015 13" retina MBP, Mail, and only 1 iCloud inbox. All settings within Mail are correct and my internet connection is fine. The only way I can make mail go online again (getting rid of the exclamation point symbols near "inbox") is by turning off WI-FI and turning it back on again, which isn't a deal breaker, but it's just annoying.

  • by benleetaylor,

    benleetaylor benleetaylor Aug 12, 2016 3:40 PM in response to adevkota
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Aug 12, 2016 3:40 PM in response to adevkota

    I've been meaning to return to this thread to provide an update on my last reply about resetting the NVRAM. In short, the solution didn't stick, and I'm back to the intermittent disconnects and "timeout" messages I was getting before Really frustrating because there doesn't seem to be any logic to these disconnects. Some days (like today in particular) are worse than others. And like you, adevkota, the quickest solution is to just turn wifi off and back on again. Sometimes, however, I'll get another disconnect within minutes of resetting the wifi. I also have a brand new 2015 13" MBP retina with all the latest updates to El Capitan. My best guess is there's some kind of a bug in the wifi card's firmware that is causing it to not play nicely with Mail and some other apps (I'm still getting timeout messages from iTunes). It just seems like it has to be a hardware issue because my MBP 2011 was working just fine with Mail.

     

    At this point, I'm resigning myself to waiting until Sierra is released and perhaps that will solve all of our problems (fingers crossed).

  • by adevkota,

    adevkota adevkota Aug 12, 2016 4:08 PM in response to benleetaylor
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 12, 2016 4:08 PM in response to benleetaylor

    Yeah, I've basically decided I'll just wait until Sierra comes out and hope the bug has been eradicated. I've tried everything.

     

    Heres to hoping!

  • by Matthew Fosberg,

    Matthew Fosberg Matthew Fosberg Aug 15, 2016 5:02 PM in response to writergirl2
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Aug 15, 2016 5:02 PM in response to writergirl2

    I've been having this problem for the past couple of months. I don't know why it started, but my IMAP accounts will suddenly go "deaf" and refuse to respond. I have found that a restart will clear up the problem, and since I leave my MacBook Air on all of the time it's probably for the best, but it's frustrating. Hoping Sierra will clean this up.

  • by trailerboy531,

    trailerboy531 trailerboy531 Aug 15, 2016 5:56 PM in response to benleetaylor
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 15, 2016 5:56 PM in response to benleetaylor

    As Benlee said the PRAM reset is not effective. I've had this issue for over a year now... I would say it started in March '15. Others in my office have had the same problem and it's making a work environment difficult as our email problems are disruptive to our work day.

     

    For me personally the problem went away from August '15 until just last week while it persisted for others in my office off and on. I've reinstalled the OS, gotten new routers at work, switched to using the Airport Extreme, rebuilt all of my mailboxes - none of it has helped my coworkers. Now each of us are experiencing the issue.

     

    Could it be how the wireless card works with some ISPs? We have Time Warner Cable at my office. I haven't noticed the problem outside of work, neither have my 2 other coworkers, but to be fair I don't spend the same amount of time on my MBP outside of work. I don't usually experience the problem until after the 3rd hour of work or so.

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