Apple Mail will not retrieve emails

OS 10.6.7, Mail 4.5

In trying to help a complete novice into the world of Apple applications and MacOS, we have run into a block wall, utterly immovable.

No matter what Mail prefs/settings are tried, Mail will not retrieve emails from the server (there is no problem sending via smtp).

Have spent hours (literally) with online and phone help at the ISP, testing different settings, but whilst test mails are going through okay, the user simply cannot retrieve them via Mail (Webmail okay).

Any brilliant thoughts before we ditch Mail altogether and try an email app that actually works?

Who is the email account with? Their ISP? If so, could you tell me what ISP so I can do some checking?

The ISP is Xtra-Yahoo, user @xtra.co.nz, Yahoo! New Zealand, server setting pop3.xtra.co.nz.

Pop3 port settings tries included 110 without SSL, and 993 with SSL.

Smtp ports used default settings of 25, or 465, or 587. At one stage custom port of 25 without SSL was tried.

As said, sending mail is not a problem. It is only receiving or retrieving via Apple Mail.

Despite its age, I'm a diehard Eudora fan, and Thunderbird assumes that the user will want IMAP, so does anyone have strong recommendations about alternative email clients for MacOS? For the user's sake, it has to be simple, ie. 'press button A to retrieve, press button B to send'.

Thanks ..... Hugh

The simplest mate I would suggest is Mail in Snow Leopard.

My ISP, Internode, changed both incoming and outgoing servers to
"securemail@internode etc'.

That's strange Hugh. I have my copy of Thunderbird setup as POP3. Are you sure you can only choose IMAP?

chscag said:

That's strange Hugh. I have my copy of Thunderbird setup as POP3. Are you sure you can only choose IMAP?

Click to expand...

Depends which version chscag. For example, for the purposes of replication when trying to help others, I run a copy of T'bird on my Mini/SLpd. The T'b version is 1.5.0.9 and it works flawlessly with my ISP, plus the standard pop3 and smtp settings.

A later version - sorry , can't remember which one, but it was last year - offered the IMAP option only, no pop3.

Now there's a problem with another 'client', who has just installed that earlier version of T'b on his wife's Macbook with LeopardOS. He's run into an authentication and password problem, which requires the entering of the p/w very time s/he wants to retrieve emails.

To complicate matters, that same version of T'b works fine on his G5 iMac/TigerOS, no need for a password [he's going to investigate all the settings on the iMac to see what might be different.]

harryb2448 said:

The simplest mate I would suggest is Mail in Snow Leopard. My ISP, Internode, changed both incoming and outgoing servers to "securemail@internode etc'.

Click to expand...

The first guy has a new MBPro with SLpd, and it is with that OS we're experiencing the problems with Mail. In the second instance, it's a Macbook with Leopard.

Interesting, that slightly different type of address. My previous ISP had mail.xxx.xxx.nz, whereas my present provider and the problematic ones retain the (now) old pop3.xxx.xxx.nz. There's a lot of inconsistency.

Were you aware that pop will only use Port 110, and no SSL available; whereas if you use SSL in T'b, the port number changes to 995 (in Mail it is 993). As explained, all available port options and settings were tried with the issues mentioned in Post #'s 1 & 3.

I'm of a mind to sample a couple of the other email clients that are available. Top 9 Free Mac Email Programs - About Email