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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Not receiving incoming emails

brensan100 - Nov 6, 2006 - 2:27 am

I suddenly have problems receiving incoming mail on a G4 Powerbook, running 10.3.9.
Sending mail is fine and access to the internet equally okay.

I spent an hour on the helpline to my ISP, when all settings and various related things were checked, including confirming that no other software was interfering. ISP is Demon, using broadband.

The mails are coming in okay on two other Macs [same email account],and everything worked fine yesterday.

My technical knowledge is quite basic but I can work through things with clear explanations.

Thank you.

Bren

LovesMacs - Nov 6, 2006 - 7:22 pm

HI Ben,

Interesting problem you have. You can send but not receive e-mail. Ok... question for you. Have you tried using Mac Mail to see if it will work properly? Sometimes trying a different Mail client can help determine if it's your ISP or possibly a setting on your Mac is whacko. You're using 10.3.9 so you should have Mac Mail in your Applications folder if not the Icon already in your Dock. It's preinstalled by default.

Also, see if you can locate this file: com.demon.demon.plist MacintoshHD>Users>Library>Preferences. Open the Preferences folder and look for that file. If you can find it, drag it to the Trash, empty the Trash and reboot your Mac. Try your regular Mail client to see if it's receiving. Send yourself an e-mail... put "test" in the Subject line... see if you receive and can open it. That is a preference file and they can definitely can get corrupted. And don't worry, your Mac will create a new preference file for you.

Also, run Disk Utility and Repair Permissions. DU is in your Applications>Utility folder. That can solve a myriad of problems. Also, launch Demon and empty the Cache. If you aren't certain how, look for their Help menu. I'm not sure if the browser cache is related to their mail client but it sure can't hurt to empty the cache anyway.

Good luck!
Carolyn :-)

LovesMacs - Nov 6, 2006 - 7:23 pm

LovesMacs - Nov 6, 2006 - 7:23 pm

Ooops... I meant to say Bren, not Ben. My apologies!

brensan100 - Nov 9, 2006 - 9:45 am

Hi Carolyn
Thanks for your help. I think I need to clarify a couple of things. By the way, didn't even notice the 'Ben' :-)

Firstly I am in the UK and I'm guessing you are US, so maybe our common language has let me down!

The reference to Demon is simply that they are my Internet Service Provider, ie I pay them for my internet broadband connection and use them to get and send e-mails. Did I explain that properly? Anyway I checked everything about their set-up and service that I, and their helpline, could think of.

Next, your suggestion about Mac Mail - that is what I have been using. When I got your suggestion about trying it, I remembered that I have Microsoft Entourage loaded, and so I set that up and was able to receive emails. [Note I did this last so everything else did not alter the situation with Mac mail]. Therefore I assume it is a problem with Mac mail on this particular laptop. I have an imac and an ibook and both are getting emails via the demon broadband connection on Mac Mail.

Okay, next,I could not find a file called com.demon.demon.plist.[ It also was not to be found on my ibook, which I just checked in case it had disappeared from the powerbook]. However as it appears it is Mail and not Demon at fault, maybe that is to be expected.........?

I did run Disk Utility and Repair Permissions, then restarted but nothing changed.

I don't know what you mean by 'launch Demon'. To use the Demon service I just click on 'connect' in the telephone icon in the header bar. I wondered if you thought that Demon was performing the same function as Mac mail. If so, should I be launching Mail and then emptying the cache, if such a thing is possible? I am a bit worried about doing the wrong thing.

I would prefer to keep using Mac Mail rather than have to change evrything to Entourage, if possible. Can you suggest anything else? I hope I have been clear enough this time.

Many thanks for your time and trouble.

regards

Bren [short for Brenda, an almost silver surfer]

LovesMacs - Nov 9, 2006 - 11:10 am

HI Bren!

So glad you can send and recceive e-mail. Ummmmm... Apple has revamped Mac Mail and truth be told it's still kind of buggy. I have problems sending anything with attanchments. You can check out Mac Mail status by going here:
http://www.mac.com/WebObjects/Welcome when that page loads, scroll down to the bottom and look on the left side. There are status buttons red/green that indicate whether Mail or anything else there is misbehaving.

Ah... to "launch" a program means to start it up so to speak. Sorry for the confusion. So if I wanted to start iPhoto, I click on the icon in my Dock and voila... iPhoto "launches"... sounds like we're sending a boat off doesn't it?

I can think of a great third party maintenance FREE software that is available at Apple called Onyx. Here is the link: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...ties/onyx.html Download and install Onyx following the installation instructions. I keep Onyx in my Applications folder with an icon in my Dock for easy access but you can leave it on your Desktop if you want. Onyx will ask for your password... just type it in. Then click the Maintenance button. Check all the buttons EXCEPT Optimization. That takes hours... and not necessary to do but maybe once a year. Click the Excute buttons... let Onyx do it's thing and you now have cleared out old log files/cache files..... all the stuff that can keep your Macs running and happy. I use Onyx once a week. Running Onyx will automatically run Disk Utility for you and Repair Permissions. Repairing Permissions once a week is critical to keeping a Mac OS performing at 100%.

Ok.. get crackin' ! LOL I'm silver but it's too darn cold to surf in San Francisco! And nice talking with you.... I've met several Mac users from your neck of the woods and everyone just as nice as the next!

Carolyn :-)

brensan100 - Nov 13, 2006 - 1:37 am

Hi Carolyn
I didn't realise the ticket was closed. Sorry if that was because I didn't respond quickly enough. The weekend got in the way.

Anyway I thought you'd like to know that something worked. The powerbook wasn't used all weekend and when I checked this morning, it was all working fine. I guess it must have been the disk utility you told me to run. So thank you very much. I am now planning to check the Mac Mail status, and download the onyx as you suggested.

By the way, I meant a silver surfer of the 'net', not the real stuff! If you think San Francisco is cold, you haven't dipped a toe in the water here!

LOL, it's been great.

Bren

TechSupport - Nov 13, 2006 - 7:30 am