Frequent "port 110 timed out"

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Frequent "port 110 timed out"

Hi. Hope someone can help with this.

I frequently get the following message when checking my mail accounts:

The server error encountered was: The connection to the server "mail.eclipse.co.uk" on port 110 timed out.

Sometimes I get mail okay, sometimes the POP connection times out - with no change in settings. So I'm guessing that the POP server I'm connecting to really is very slow.

Is there any way of changing the timeout period In Apple Mail?

Bruno.

PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

PowerBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Jan 17, 2007 9:47 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 17, 2007 10:49 AM in response to Bruno Beloff

Hi Bruno.

No, there is no way to change the timeout period in Mail, but chances are that, if this happens often to you, there is something wrong with your network settings.

Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Network, choose Network Port Configurations from the Show popup menu, and make sure that the configuration used to connect to Internet appears at the top of the list.

Also, try using a different method to connect to Internet, if possible, or connecting the computer to Internet as directly as possible, i.e. bypassing any routers that might be present, using an ethernet cable instead of wireless, etc., and see whether that makes a difference.

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Answer 2

Bruno Beloff Author

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Jan 18, 2007 9:43 AM in response to David Gimeno Gost

Hi

No, there is no way to change the timeout period in
Mail, but chances are that, if this happens often to
you, there is something wrong with your network
settings.

The network works fine for all other purposes, and does send / receive mail okay some of the time.

Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences >
Network, choose Network Port
Configurations from the Show popup menu,
and make sure that the configuration used to connect
to Internet appears at the top of the list.

My primary means of connection (wireless) is the top of the list. What's the significance of this by the way?

Also, try using a different method to connect to
Internet, if possible, or connecting the computer to
Internet as directly as possible, i.e. bypassing any
routers that might be present, using an ethernet
cable instead of wireless, etc., and see whether that
makes a difference.

I tried connecting via ethernet on my home network. Again, all other network protocols work fine, but the same intermittent timeout problem with checking POP accounts.

I also tried connecting using someone else's wireless network. Exactly the same result.

Bruno.

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Answer 3

Jan 18, 2007 10:05 AM in response to Bruno Beloff

My primary means of connection (wireless) is the top of the list.
What's the significance of this by the way?

It determines the order in which Mac OS X tries the active configurations to connect to Internet. If the wrong one is at the top, it may cause Mail to time-out because establishing the connection may take longer.

Could it be that you have too much mail on the server? What are your Preferences > Accounts > Advanced > Remove copy from server settings for this account?

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Answer 4

Bruno Beloff Author

Level 1

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Jan 18, 2007 11:33 AM in response to David Gimeno Gost

It determines the order in which Mac OS X tries the
active configurations to connect to Internet. If the
wrong one is at the top, it may cause Mail to
time-out because establishing the connection may take
longer.

Thanks for that. Not relevant, because the wireless connection is already active, as confirmed on my menu bar.

Could it be that you have too much mail on the
server? What are your Preferences > Accounts >
Advanced > Remove copy from server settings for
this account?

Nope. Set to remove 'Right away'.

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Answer 5

Jan 18, 2007 11:54 AM in response to Bruno Beloff

You’re welcome.

Not relevant, because the wireless connection is already active

Not sure you’ve understood what I said. Having it active is not enough. To ensure that it works smoothly, it must also be at the top of the list. Anyway, it looks like this is not the problem in your case.

Set to remove 'Right away'.

Have you checked whether Mail does actually remove the messages from the server according to your settings? Apparently, sometimes it doesn’t, particularly when Remove copy from server is set to Right away...

Does this account allow web access? Open the Account Info window by choosing Get Info (⌘I) from the Action menu (gear icon) located below the mailboxes list in the main Mail window. What do you see there?

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