dock mail client "locked"

[suzikg]

hi,

running OSX 10.3.9, on a G3, safari 1.3.2 (v 312.6) & earthlink.

about 2 weeks ago got the following dialog box message while trying to access the mail client from my dock.

The mailbox “~/Library/Mail/Mailboxes/INBOX.mbox” is currently locked by “null” on host “dialup-(my IP address).dial1.(mycity).level3.net”. If you open a mailbox that already is in use, you may damage its contents.

the dialog box won't let me choose any of the following options "open read only", "quit" or "open anyway". i have to force quit mail but when i try to access it again, it fails.

rebooting has no effect. webmail works fine thru my earthlink homepage and i'm not having any other issues other than a couple of spam mails have made it into my webmail in the last 2 days even though spam filter is set on high. and in 3 years with the mac and earthlink i have NEVER had a spam make it thru the filter.

what would lock my client on the dock. i have changed no preferences, added or uninstalled anything. is it a mac, safari or earthlink issue? i don't even know who to call.

any clues? and thanks in advance

suzi g

 

[fryke]

the reason you get spam-mail on the web-mail interface is because your spamfilter only works locally, i.e. in Mail.app, and not on the server.

the locked mailbox is a _local_ problem, however. you might be able to solve the problem by restarting the mac, by repairing permissions or - as a last resort - by removing Mail.app's preferences completely. but i'd start with the first tip.

 

[suzikg]

Thanks for the reply,

This issue was sent to the Mac Techs on the forum and they didn't have a clue & posted it in the general forum for me...which I had already done.

I resolved it myself by snooping around in my applications and locating iWork. There is a mail category in there and within it is an "apple.dockfixup" with a download.

Whatever caused the "lock" is gone now. Hope this may help others as I've seen this subject has been unresolved for others. Not sure if it will work for anyone else or if this was the solution (or what caused it in the first place). I'm fairly clueless when it comes to troubleshooting a Mac but I'm back with my dock mail client now.

suzi g