Mail PROBLEM SENDING

W

winsen

Registered
I'm using Mail 2.0.5 with OS X 10.4.3 (Tiger). Until recently, I've had no problems with the Mail program, but for the past 36-hours or so I've not been able to Send mail from this computer. Receipt is no problem.

I get the typical message which says "Cannot send message using the server ____." No other servers work either, but they only don't work on this computer*. They all work on my other computers which are configured the same as this one. My connection and Sending capabilities on other Macs using the same server work perfectly, using Mail.

Here are things I've tried so far. If there's something I'm missing, please help me understand what it might be and especially how to fix it:

1) Restarted Mail and subsequently restarted entire computer.
2) Ran Disk Warrior to rebuild the directory
3) Trashed and replaced my mail preferences file (com.apple.mail.plist). This action left me with the same inability to send so I've replaced the new mail preferences file with the original in order to avoid having to reconfig everything (perhaps there's a work-around for reconfiging everything when replacing the preferences file; if so, I'd be interested to know it).
4) Checked all settings to verify they've not been changed from those which have worked fine for me for many months and which work fine on other computers also using Tiger.
5) Moaned and groaned to anyone inclined to listen.
6) Gave up and sought help!

Thanks for any help you can give me. I can't think of anything else to try right now.

Happy New Year!


* Machine Name: PowerBook G4 17"
Machine Model: PowerBook5,7
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.2)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.67 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.9.1f1
 
I realize you have checked all the settings, but this does sound like a settings issue. To send mail most servers require a password, and typically in the settings area the password is not shown, so might be easy to miss. A suggestion is to re-enter your mail server password on this one computer. No idea why/how it would have changed.

By any chance are you syncing using a dot Mac account? I had some issues with this, in particular syncing more than one user through a single dot mac account. This caused all kinds of cross contamination issues with passwords and accounts.
 
I'd not tried checking the password previously, but have now done that. The logic of a password problem is a mystery to me, but this whole thing is! If it was a password issue, wouldn't that also be a problem with retrieving messages from the server as well as with sending them? My only problem is with sending.

In any case, I've again verified the password as correct and the problem persists. There must be solution to this issue; there always is. So far it's escaping me and feels ever more frustrating.

I do appreciate any problem solving ideas and will pursue them all.

Thanks so much!
 
By the way, Cam, I neglected to respond to your comment about a .mac account. I'm not using one of those and am not attempting to sync accounts or users.
 
Some services require a separate password for sending and receiving and these can be different (as the mail sending and receiving computers can be different). Most use a single password - but it was worth a shot.

Have you searched the net and apple support ? I may give this a shot for you as I am pretty familiar with the process. Besides forums I sometimes find the answer on the net.
 
Found this at the apple site:

If you are unable to send or receive mail, you may have a problem connecting to the Internet. You can use Mail Connection Doctor to help you get connected to the Internet again.

1. In Mail, choose Window > Connection Doctor.
2. In the Mail Connection Doctor window, follow the instructions in the Details column for items marked with a red status light. Start with the first problem area in the list. Double-clicking text in the Details column opens the Accounts pane in Mail Preferences.
3. Click Check Again to see if your actions have solved the connection problem.
 
Other apple suggestions. Try pinging both your mail reading account and mail sending account as suggested below. Also apparently you can go "offline" with your mail (see below). I recall this happening to me once.

* Send yourself a test email. The mail has to go out through your outgoing mail server and back into your incoming mail server. This is a good basic test of your account and server information.

* Make sure your computer can perform other Internet tasks, such as opening a webpage. If not, choose Window > Connection Doctor and follow the directions in the Details column.

* Choose Mail > Preferences and click Accounts. Verify your account name and password. Your account name will usually be either your email address (for example, tclark3@mac.com) or the part of your email address to the left of the "@" (tclark3). If your Internet service provider (ISP) lets you access your email via a web browser, you may be able to verify your name and password there. If the same information does not work using a web browser or your ISP doesn't offer a web-based mail option, confirm your user name and password with your ISP or network administrator. Remember to type your email password, not your Mac OS X user account password or ISP password (if different).

* Find out if you can reach your incoming mail server from your computer. Open Network Utility, located in Applications/Utilities, and click Ping. Ping is a simple network testing tool that shows whether a server computer is running and can be reached from your computer. Type the mail server name (such as mail.company.com) or IP address in the address field, and click Ping. If you see 10 repeating lines, then the server can be reached. If you see a message such as "ping: unknown host bogus.apple.com," then the server is either down or unreachable. Note: This test does not work with .Mac accounts.

* Mail works with the following account types: POP, IMAP, .Mac, and Exchange (only if configured as an IMAP server). You can't log in directly to Hotmail, AOL, or any service that does not support POP or IMAP access, and retrieve email using Mail.

* Your account may be "offline" if Mail can't access the account. Check your Inbox to see if it is dimmed. If so, connect to the Internet, then choose Mailbox > Go Online. If you have more than one account, you can take a specific account online by choosing Mailbox > Online Status > Take “[account]” Online.

* Make sure there is no firewall software blocking email traffic. A firewall works by selectively blocking network traffic. Mac OS X has a built-in firewall, which you turn on and off using the Sharing pane of System Preferences. Open System Preferences and click Sharing, then click Firewall. Make sure your firewall is off.

* You may be affected by another firewall, either software installed separately from Mac OS X or built into an Internet sharing router, or administered by your ISP or network administrator. Contact the appropriate person to find out whether a firewall may be in place.

* If you have changed options (such as Use SSL or Authentication) in the Advanced pane of your email account preferences, check with your ISP or system administrator for the correct settings.
 
Winsen

Setup a new account in Mail with your POP and SMTP info and see if it works.
 
OK, whew! Here we go... but first, thanks so much for the responses. I'm trying them all, carefully verifying everything and following are details:

*You may have a problem connecting to the Internet. Use Mail Connection Doctor.

Checks ok on all accounts. The Send problem persists on all accounts.

* Send yourself a test email.

Done numerous times via web email. My problem is only in sending and only in using the Mail program, not with connection to my server or with sending email using a means other than Mail. There is no problem with receipt of email.

* Make sure your computer can perform other Internet tasks.

Naturally, this works as I am using the internet and the macosx.com online forums to communicate my Mail problems.

* Verify your account name and password.

Checked OK of course since I can use mail functions in all areas via other mail programs. Only OSX Mail will not work and it only will not work to Send mail.

* Find out if you can reach your incoming mail server from your computer.

Pings fine.

* Mail works with the following account types: POP.

I am now and always have used POP accounts.

* Your account may be "offline" if Mail can't access the account.

I am online and, again, receive mail just fine in all accounts. Only can't Send.

* Make sure there is no firewall software blocking email traffic.

Firewall is off.

* Contact the appropriate person to find out whether a firewall may be in place.

No firewall is in place either by me or by my server.

* If you have changed options (such as Use SSL or Authentication)...

I've changed no options. This problem began quite suddenly with no warning or no changes in configuration.

Finally, as suggested by Bob above, I established a new account in Mail using the same settings which have always worked previously to the same result: not able to Send mail using OSX Mail program.

There MUST be a solution to the problem I'm having and we've just not happened on it yet. I do very much appreciate all the time and help you all are offering.

Happy New Year!
 
As of Tuesday morning, my Send issues persist -- along with increasing frustration over them. The problems do now occur on three different computers, all of which have been configured the same for many months and have been working fine. That leaves me to think that something about my server's (if I'm using the right terminology here) settings has changed and I'm somehow not meshing with that.

Again, any help anyone can give is gratefully received!
 
Did you try BobW's tip of re-creating the account? I wouldn't actually _remove_ your account in Mail.app (since that also removes all mail ever retrieved from that account) but create another OS X user altogether and set it up for that specific E-Mail account. (Only for testing purposes.) Login as that test user, set up E-Mail and try.
 
If it's persisting across three different computers with the sae settings, then I'd definitely pay a call to your email host.

Of note: SBC Yahoo! just recently changed their login requirements on all SBC-related accounts to require the full email address instead of just your username. Also of note: they did this without prior notice.
 
Well, after all the things we tried and thankfully, it made no sense to erase drives reinstall all my systems although that seemed to be a necessary direction we were headed, the problem turned out to be a server issue as more than one of you suggested. Once that got resolved with a nice long and friendly conversation with my server admin who's also a good friend, and after some major redo for me on my primary computer, everything is now working fine. We can again Send and have always been able to Receive email via the OS X Mail client. WaaaahHoooo!

About the major redo: As it turned out, for some reason still unknown to me, I had to remove each of my email accounts and recreate it (not just reenter the information). That's not a problem, I discovered, if you create a spare folder to hold the messages in accounts you want to recreate with mail that's not been answered or otherwise is to be archived from which you can transfer back the messages you want to the original account folder. Also, I took a snap [Shift-Cmd-4 > select area > press enter] of the settings of each account setup so I'd easily be able to recreate them.

Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, I'm thrilled to be up and running again and I do appreciate the time and expertise given by every respondent to my questions and problems. Perhaps a read through of this thread will be helpful to someone else along the way so I wanted to close it out with word about the resolution.

Here's to a trouble-free 2006 computer year!
 
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