Mail problems since I upgraded to Snow Leopard

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I have an iMac with Snow Leopard. 4GB memory
Since I upgraded to Snow Leopard I am having problems printing in Mail. I do not have these problems printing from my files or from the Web.

I open an email. If it is important and I want to either print it or save it as a PDF it takes an exceptionally long time for the print box to appear. I don't have a stop watch but I am guessing nearly 1 minute.

Then on several occasions Mail freeze when I do click print or Save as PDF. When that happens I can't even Force quit it to get out.

I have tried the drop down menu on the top to Force Quit and it won't do it. I have tried holding down the Option button and pressing ( not clicking) to get the force quit menu, I get the menu and click on Force Quit and all I get is the Spinning Beach Ball. I have left the Spinning Beach Ball for at least 5 minutes and nothing.

The only way I can get out is to shut it down with the power button which is not good for the Computer.

Any ideas how I can correct this problem?
Thanks
Barbara
 
C

chas_m

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You likely need to delete, and then re-add, you printer in the System Preferences. Make sure it is on when you do this.

What's likely happening is that the system is looking for a valid printer and can't find one. It eventually times out.
 
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I just deleted the printer and nowADD printer doesn't give me my printer to add . I tried search and nothing come up
 
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Thanks!! It recognized it on the second attempt and it appears to be fixed.
Barbara
 
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After I deleted and re-added my printer I thought it was fixed but it is not.
I am still unable to quit or Force Quit Mail. It freezes up .

As I said I have tried Quit from the top drop down and Force Quit from the Dock Mail Icon pop-up menu but neither work. I have to get out by shutting it down with the power button.

I never had a problem with Mail or anything else until I upgraded to Snow Leopard. Everything else seems to work fine.

Any other ideas to fix Mail??
Thanks
Barbara
 
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My problem is solved!

I called Apple Support and they spend over an hour and a half straightening out the problems created by the new upgrade of Snow Leopard .

They didn't even charge me for the call because it was cause by a product I bought from Apple.
It took a support rep and a manager to get to the bottom of the problems. They were great!!
 

dtravis7


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Do you have any idea what was done to solve it? Might help someone else in the future.
 
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Sure I will tell you as much as I recall. I started writing things down and then it was so complicated I knew I would not attempt this on my own.

When I called I had a spinning beach-ball trying to close Safari.
I closed it down with the power button.
I told the tech that what I had previously tried to correct this problem. I had run repair disk permissions; cleared cookies; cleared Safari cache; deleted and re-added the printer

This is what I recall we did.
1. safe boot
2. Clear the SYSTEM cache . Finder--->Home---->Library cache. Sent the System cache to the thrash ( I has cleared the cache in Safari before I called)
3. still in Library sent Launch Agents to the trash
4. still in Library sent Preferences to the trash
5. Still in Library sent Login Items to the trash

Had me try mail and it still didn't work.

6.Then he had me go to Library again and go to com.apple.loginitems.plist AND com.apple.loginwindow.plist copy and past both of those to my Desk top. And sent the originals to the trash

7.In my Mail account under log in items I had something I don't know what is was or used for. He had me delete it

8. I copied and pasted my current messages and went to Archive them on to my desk top
9. Made an Archive of my sent messages too and put it on my desk top

10. Apple icon---> systems preferences---> accounts to create a Faux email account as Admin to use as a test. He told me to use my same log in password. I tried sending myself a message but Road Runner would not send it due to the same password. He said no problem we just need a message to try to print and the unsent message will do. the print box did come up but it is still much slower than when I try printing from my files or the Web.
I went back to my actual email account.
11. Went to Mail in my regular mailbox and clicked on my Inbox----> went to the task bar at the top and chose Mailboxes and then drop down of Rebuild.


He said what we did was a system clean up . He said after 5 years of updates and other things installed and deleted from the system it can get gummed up. The Snow leopard install just pushed it over the edge.LOL

I am able to close Mail and Safari properly . It is still a bit slower to get the print box in Mail but it does come up. The print box comes up instantly in files or on the Web.

He said I can call back with any problems that the Snow Leopard install created and they will help at me at no charge , because I bought it from Apple.
The things he had me save on my desk top were no longer needed . They were incase everything was lost on the Rebuild Mailboxes .

The trash on my dock is full! I hope this all makes sense and I didn't forget anything
Barbara

PS I would not try this on my own. When I bought my computer we got a few free classes. The instructor showed us Library but cautioned us "Never futz with things in Library unless you know what you are doing"!
 
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UPDATE to this saga LOL

After the tech at Apple spent more than an hour having me do numerous tasks the problem with mail persisted.
I called back and a different tech said I should boot from the disk and then reinstall Snow Leopard . She said there is a conflict somewhere and reinstalling usually fixes the problems.

She was a bit concerned when she had me do a Safe Boot and I got a horn sound . She said it was something to do with RAM but I have plenty of unused RAM. 3.05 GB unused

I reinstalled Snow Leopard and it appears to have fixed the problem. ( fingers crossed)
I certainly hope when I upgrade to Mt. Lion it doesn't turn into a 3 week event the way this upgrade has been !

So if anyone is having mail problems after an upgrade try reinstalling the OS
 

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