Unable to download emails

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Unable to download emails

I have a G5 and a MacBook, both running OS 10.4.8 and both using Mail 2.1. I have a number of email accounts, and all work perfectly on the MacBook. However one of them recently refuses to download emails on the G5, in spite of the fact that the account details are identical on both computers. How can this be?

When I go to Get Mail on the G5, the Activity Viewer indicates that it is "Fetching New Mail" and that it is "Preparing to Retrieve Messages", but never gets further than that. Connection Doctor indicates green buttons on all the Accounts.

Account info shows 188 messages (all Sender unknown) and all with blue dot (unread).

I have tried Disk Uitility/Repair permissions. I have tried removing and re-instating the malevolent Account in Mail, dumping the Mail Preferences, clearing out unwanted old emails, even dumping the complete ~/Library/Mail folder.

I have checked System Preferences/Network/Network Port configurations/ (all in correct order), Mail/Accounts/Advanced/ (all boxes checked).

Any ideas?

G5, Mac OS X (10.4.8), MacBook

Posted on Jan 20, 2007 9:59 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 20, 2007 1:52 PM in response to russellcox

I’ve seen something like this reported before and I couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Given that it has started recently, can you think of anything you did that could have a bearing on this?

Do you have any Mail plug-ins or system utilities that could interfere with Mail? In the Finder, go to each of the following folders (if they exist). What do you see there?

/Library/StartupItems/
/Library/InputManagers/
~/Library/InputManagers/
/Library/Mail/Bundles/
~/Library/Mail/Bundles/

Also, open Apple Menu > System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items. What do you see there?

Note: For those not familiarized with the ~/ notation, it refers to the user’s home folder. You can easily locate any of the folders referred to in this post by copying the folder path here, doing Go > Go to Folder in the Finder, and pasting the folder path there.

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Answer 2

russellcox Author

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Jan 21, 2007 2:34 AM in response to russellcox

Thanks for the interest. Here are files found, with date modified (where relevent)

/Library/StartupItems/
PACESupport 9 June 2006
NUDC 9 October 2006

/Library/InputManagers/
MagicMenuEnabler 1 September 2006
Menu Extra Enabler 6 November 2005

~/Library/InputManagers/
None
/Library/Mail/Bundles/
None
~/Library/Mail/Bundles/
None

Two thoughts:

1.Mail worked fine until sometime in December 2006. I was away for 6 weeks, using my MacBook for emails. On my return in early January I noticed the problem with the G5. My email host changed servers during this period, but it did not affect the MacBook Mail.

2.I have tried setting up Mail using a new test account on the G5. Still no joy. So this would indicate that ~/Library is not the problem.

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Answer 3

russellcox Author

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Jan 21, 2007 2:43 AM in response to russellcox

About Accounts>Login items, I found the following:

iTunesHelper
EEventManager
Microsoft AU Daemon
iCalAlarmScheduler
SuffitAVRDaemon
Skype
EyeTV Helper
FolderShare

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Answer 4

Jan 21, 2007 6:18 AM in response to russellcox

You’re welcome.

Mail worked fine until sometime in December 2006. I was away for 6
weeks, using my MacBook for emails. On my return in early January
I noticed the problem with the G5. My email host changed servers
during this period, but it did not affect the MacBook Mail.

This is relevant. Maybe the G5 has a problem coping with the changes and all the mail that accumulated on the server during this period, but the MacBook didn’t have such a problem because it didn’t have to deal with it all at once.

Since those messages have already been successfully downloaded to the MacBook, I’d suggest removing messages from the server until Mail starts working properly again on the G5. You may only need to remove the first message not downloaded yet there, or you may need to remove all the messages currently on the server.

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Answer 5

russellcox Author

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Jan 22, 2007 2:48 AM in response to David Gimeno Gost

Dear David,

I believe you have solved it. For which I am most grateful. But before I go, a couple of questions.

On the email account on my MacBook, I have checked the option:
"Remove copy from the server after retrieving a message".

Why were all those messages then not deleted?

If they were not being deleted , why were there only 188 messages shown on the Get Info window? - with current volume of SPAM that is hardly two days worth! I was away for six weeks (although my assistant did monitor emails from time to time during that period).

Thanks anyway.
Patrick

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Answer 6

Jan 22, 2007 7:32 AM in response to russellcox

You’re welcome.

On the email account on my MacBook, I have checked the option:
"Remove copy from the server after retrieving a message".

What do you have selected in the popup menu below that check box, i.e. when should messages be deleted from the server according to your settings? How old were the messages that were still on the server?

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Answer 7

russellcox Author

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Jan 22, 2007 7:43 AM in response to David Gimeno Gost

On the MacBook the setting was Right away. On the G5, After one week.

I have assumed that when using the MacBook, once Mail has collected from the server (and deleted right away) then the messages would no longer be available to the G5.

If messages were collected by the G5 in my absence I would still have a week to get them on the laptop.

G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8) MacBook

G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8) MacBook

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Answer 8

Jan 22, 2007 8:16 AM in response to russellcox

I have assumed that when using the MacBook, once Mail has
collected from the server (and deleted right away) then the
messages would no longer be available to the G5.

Yes, that’s what should have happened, but Mail sometimes fails to remove messages from the server according to your settings, particularly when Remove copy from server is set to Right away -- not sure why. I can only guess Mail sometimes has problems communicating with the server, and precisely because the setting is Right away, never tries again. The changes made at the server could have a bearing on this.

If it works properly now, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, just beware that Mail may sometimes fail to remove messages from the server if configured to do it Right away.

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Answer 9

russellcox Author

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Jan 22, 2007 1:21 PM in response to russellcox

Thanks - I've learnt a bit, and maybe others will have too !

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