Mail doesn't display any of my e-mails

I'm really getting frustrated with Mail, I've tried pretty much everything, here's the situation: I've added both my live and hotmail accounts, my live only displays 18 of my 600 some messages. I would like all of them. My hotmail doesn't display any, there's over 1200 of them. A lot of these emails contain information that I need periodically, so I would like to have to them in the program. I've removed and re-added both accounts, I've changed all kinds of settings, all with no luck. Every once and a while when I start clicking around in Mail, I see the progress bar pop up in the bottom left corner that says downloading 1200/1200 messages for hotmail, but it quickly disappears and nothing shows up in my inbox. Someone has to know a way to solve this. It's frustrating not having a functioning mail client.