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Author Topic: Mail app and my wife...  (Read 2454 times)

Offline Xairbusdriver

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Mail app and my wife...
« on: April 08, 2010, 11:29:33 AM »
Got a call yesterday fro judy, "This stupid email program is broken, again! I absolutely need to reply to some messages but it won't send anything! That little spinning wheel only stops when the dialog comes up telling me to try later or another server!" She only has two accounts, a Comcast.net and a Mindspring.com. All was fine until "something" happened yesterday morning. Now, she can receive from Mindspring but cannot send. She can send from Comcast but cannot receive. rant.gif

Of course, re-entering the passwords didn't help. Connection Doctor continues to show smtp sever for Mindspring won't accept her info and the mail.comcast doesn't accept her password.

I've removed/restored the com.apple.mail.plist to no avail. I'll next take a look at KeyChain and 1Password (which may be taking Keychains place, but it's been doing that for months...). The major problem is not being able to verify the passwords! What we have 'hidden' in various places doesn't work. My Comcast setup shows I use a password for authentication for the smtp server, hers show "None"! If I even change that to "Password" Connection Doctor show Comcast breaking contact with hat server immediately! I seem to remember Comcast saying no authentication was required, but it seemed to work for me with no complaints. dntknw.gif

At least the web mail mindspring system still works. I really wish I could find the actual problem is that causes this. I could be something that Judy does, but there are almost continuous threads at Apple's forums from people having this problem. Most still show "Not solved," although that often occurs because people don't return and change that! sad.gif I think there may even be some info here...

One thing I will do is to search all drives for screen shots I think I made the last time this happened! Of course, if I didn't edit those pictures to show the actual passwords, they really won't help much... Oh well, this project will keep me "off the streets" for a while...and she still has complete access via her iPhone. Which means I don't want to contact anyone and get new passwords since that would block the iPhone access! wacko.gif
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THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
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Offline Paddy

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Mail app and my wife...
« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2010, 12:25:21 PM »
Jim, have you tried poking around on the Comcast user forums?

https://login.comcast.net/login

I can't get in there anymore - after 3 years, they've finally (in the past couple of months) figured out that I've moved and am no longer a customer! rolleyes.gif

This may be of some help too - don't know if you had these settings or not, but certainly worth a try if not:

http://home.comcast.net/~bethkatz/MacMailSetup.html
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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Mail app and my wife...
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2010, 12:51:54 PM »
Well, I finally got some "Good News/Bad News" from Mindspring/EarthLink "We're experiencing difficulties/problems, blah, blah..." rolleyes.gif I always assume the problem is on our end first, I should know better by now...

I'll check your links. The weird thing is Comcast is fine on my iMac. That actually be something on her settings. Biggest problem is that Keychain changes what's there every time you change something in Mail, so it's not much help if you make an error and then look for what things were supposed to be...oh well, time for lunch.
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THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline jcarter

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Mail app and my wife...
« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2010, 01:10:55 PM »
Hi Jim,
Last year we had trouble sending with Comcast, and found that they had changed the outgoing port. We were not told of this, but we found a forum which gave us some hints. I changed our outgoing port, and its been fine ever since. But this is the new MacMail and I am using my WebHost as the outgoing server, (mail.machighway.com) with port 995. Which is actually different than the set up on the old Mac, but there is no way for me to view those settings now.
But I think that this outgoing port thing could be the issue.
I dont have that forum bookmarked on this new Mac, but if I can possibly find it, I will send you the link, as its sure full of Comcast info and help.
Jane
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Offline Jack W

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Mail app and my wife...
« Reply #4 on: April 08, 2010, 01:30:11 PM »
Sometimes, a simple re-boot will take care of this.

Just a thought.

I know there are several TSers that keep their Macs running all the time.

I shut down a couple of times a day, and seldom have problems.

Maybe it's just the clean life I live. (Not by choice) toothgrin.gif
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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Mail app and my wife...
« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2010, 01:33:51 PM »
Thanks! She did that, herself. Didn't help. MS has the problem on that account. She doesn't even use Comcast so that's not urgent, anyway. But I'll tackle that after lunch.

after lunch (if you can call it that...)

As I mentioned above, one strangeness was that Judy's Comcast setting indicated "None" as the Authentication scheme. And Connection Doctor had a green marker for the mail and smtp servers. But mail could not be sent. This situation has probably been this way for who knows how long, but she never, ever uses that account, so we've never had any reason to check the settings, besides, CD said things were "OK!" And they were, except that they didn't work! doh.gif

I changed her settings to use "password" and entered the correct username & password. Wahla! Not only do both green dots appear, but things actually work, now! rolleyes.gif Comcast account now on-line, if it ever gets used, is another question, of course.

Now, we're just waiting on EarthLink/Mindspring to return from lunch and fix their problem(s). There were some mediocre thunderstorms through here last night and they have been severe in the Mid-West all the way up to Chicago, I guess. I have no idea if that is a cause, but one would think that they would simply re-route their network if weather was involved... dntknw.gif Maybe all the Mac techs are just skipping work to play with their iPads? rofl.gif
« Last Edit: April 08, 2010, 03:15:44 PM by Xairbusdriver »
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THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
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And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline Xairbusdriver

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Mail app and my wife...
« Reply #6 on: April 10, 2010, 08:38:11 PM »
Guess what's not working, again? That's right, neither one... rolleyes.gif EarthLink promised it would be okey-dokey in 30-90 minutes. That was over two hours ago. Unfortunately, they didn't say what day. wallbash.gif

Haven't even bothered with Comcast, since nothing ever comes there, anyway. Maybe Monday...
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THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:

Offline kimmer

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Mail app and my wife...
« Reply #7 on: April 10, 2010, 08:57:30 PM »
I think the problem is that you owe me a recipe. harhar.gif
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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Mail app and my wife...
« Reply #8 on: April 10, 2010, 09:05:38 PM »
I swear I sent a test message from her machine yesterday afternoon. But I've already deleted it since there was no point in keeping it...

But, if both accounts are broken, it seems more likely that somethings rotten in Denmarkher MBP! But I'm not wasting more time changing/resetting/modifying her prefs for hours on end as I did Thursday, only to be told the problem was on their end. wallbash.gif

QUOTE
the problem is that you owe me a recipe
OK, ok...<Community Forum Post>

OK, finally fixed. Mostly my fault (what's gnu?!). I re-entered the Mindspring info almost completely wrong. Once that was straightened out... blush-anim-cl.gif All her info is now engraved on a large stone...
    The smtp server is smtpauth.EarthLink.net (nothing about Mindsrping in there)
    Her username is actually her email address, including the "@" and the domain
    The outgoing port is now set at 587 instead of the multiple choice set (which includes 587)
rolleyes.gif

Comcast was just a matter of finding the correct info...

Moral: Don't rely on an app that uses info to also keep it! At least not Mail... nono.gif
« Last Edit: April 11, 2010, 03:04:28 PM by Xairbusdriver »
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THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system
CAUTION! Childhood vaccinations cause adults! :yes:
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