Mail Won't Send On First Try

Good Day Everyone!
I've got a goofy problem with Mac Mail in OS X 10.4.11
The problem is new in the last couple of weeks. I don't remember changing anything. Here's the situation:

I have two profiles on my computer. I call them "Work Stuff" & "Real Life"
In Real Life, if I write an E-Mail & click "Send" a box pops up and says it can not use the selected server. I'm prompted to try another server (I have 4 E-Mail accounts. 3 of them show up to choose from- All are the same ISP). I try another one & it still fails. It won't try the alternative. I tried Preferences to force another one, but it still stays at the one it wants.

Example: If I have E-Mails of [email protected] [email protected], [email protected] & [email protected]- I'm sending from ABC. It will pop up with JKL as the server. & ask me to select an alternative, but only ABC, DEF & JKL will be in the list. I can go to Preferences & tell it to use ABC when I'm sending from ABC, but it won't be ABC next time, back to JKL.

It puts the message in the outbox. If I go there & double click it & click "Sent" it sends fine, right away. This happens every time I send a message. Second try is the charm.

If I use the profile 'Work Stuff" I never have a problem sending. They go out on the first click of "Send"

I looked at all mail settings for every account & for both profiles. They all match. They also match my wife's computer settings.

I tired asking my ISP (ATT). They said "I dunno... Use our mail program."

I searched this forum & didn't find the answer (but learned a whole lot of useful things about Mail. Thank You All!)

Is there, perhaps, a Plist I can dump to get things working correctly? Is there something I'm missing in my diagnosis?

Thanks for all of your help! I know this isn't life threatening, but it is kind of pesky! (Especially when I forget to re-send. oops!)
Paul

You can try whacking the preference file to see if that resolves the problem. It's located in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist

Thank you for the suggestion Lifeisabeach!
Before I dive in, after I ditch the plist & re-enter my mail settings, will the existing in boxes, outboxes & sent items still be there, or do they get blasted away?
Paul
PS: Sorry for the delayed response. I couldn't log in for a day or two. The administration fixed it for me. (Someone or an autobot repeatedly tried to log in as me with the wrong password)
Thanks Again!

Bird Doo Head said:

Thank you for the suggestion Lifeisabeach!
Before I dive in, after I ditch the plist & re-enter my mail settings, will the existing in boxes, outboxes & sent items still be there, or do they get blasted away?
Paul
PS: Sorry for the delayed response. I couldn't log in for a day or two. The administration fixed it for me. (Someone or an autobot repeatedly tried to log in as me with the wrong password)
Thanks Again!

Click to expand...

You won't lose any mail, although if you have any custom folders, you may have to re-create those. Rather than deleting the plist, just move it to the Desktop. If this doesn't fix the problems, or something unforeseen happens, you can move it back.

Thank you very much Lifeisabeach!

I'll try it today (as I wait for the rain to stop).
Thanks for the move it to the desktop idea. A fail safe, that's for sure.
Paul

Thank You!

Good Morning Lifeisabeach & Everyone Reading This Thread-

I dumped the plist to the desktop.
Upon opening the Mail app, I re-set up my mail accounts.
I sent a bunch of test messages from each account.

Everything worked perfectly.

Thank you for your help. It is greatly appreciated!
Paul