URGENT Mail app quiting unexpectedly

[JockF]

15" Powerbook G4 800mhz - 1GB RAM - Combo drive - OSX 10.2.6

Out of no where my Mail.app has started quiting unexpectedly while trying to check mail - so I can't check my mail at the moment.

I thought something might be wrong with my system so I used Mac Janitor and System Optimizer to run all the Cron Maintenance scripts and then I used Apple's Disk Utility to verify and repair permissions - I restarted and still had the same problem with Mail. So then I ran Disk Warrior to see if I had any major disk problems - DW found nothing major - and I am still having the same problem with mail. Otherwise my system and other apps run fine - it's just mail that I am having a problem with.

My only other guess is that the application has become damaged - under OS9 I would simply reinstall the application - but under OSX this doesn't seem to be possible with Mail - or is it?

I really want to avoid installing Entourage, or even worse having to reinstall OSX.
Any suggestions on what to do - or is it possible to just reinstall Mail????

 

[Lyra]

Did you trash the preferences? You don't mention it, so if not, try that next.

 

[JockF]

Lyra:

If I trash the preferences won't I loose all my account settings?

 

[Lyra]

Well, yes, but won't you lose them anyway if you reinstall the system?

 

[dlloyd]

Don't trash the prefs as such, just move them to a different place. For now.

 

[brianleahy]

If you are leery of trashing the prefs, move them to another file name instead. That way, if it doesn't fix the problem, you can still reinstate them.

 

[JockF]

Ok -I tried removing the prefs and that didn't work - I also tried creating a new user which in affect does the same thing as trashing the prefs - but no joy - Mail keeps quiting - I hate to admit it but I think it's time to switch to Entourage as reinstalling OSX is just too painful - I wish Apple would get their shit together with Mail because I really like how it syncs with the address book and other apps - Apple also needs to make a standalone installer for Mail as reinstalling the system is not a realistic option when one app gets corrupted. Any other advice before I jump to the dark side is welcome.

 

[Arden]

Use Pacifist to install Mail from your original OS X CD. I agree, they should not force the core OS X components in an installation if you want something else on the CD. But that's what Pacifist is for.

 

[JockF]

Arden Thanks! I will give it a try - but I have another question for you - Since my Install CD is for 10.2 and my current mail app has been updated to version 1.2.5 via the 10.2.6 update - how does one go about getting the updated version of the mail app?