mac mail won't connect to server

[jjuhlin]

mac mail suddenly stopped connecting to server.

macOS 10.13.6 mail 11.5

I have checked all settings (none of which were changed) with my service provider and everything is ok. They say that I'm not the only mac user to report this kind of problem. I can connect with android phone and PC. I can connect with safari through my provider's webmail app. My wife's iphoneX had the same issue but seems to have resolved itself today with no interference on our part.

Everything points to the problem being a macmail or macOS thing.

I have no updates pending. It does not appear that the problem (started at some point after 10:42 on 3-1) coincides with any recent mac updates that were downloaded to my MacBook.

I've run out of things to try. Any suggestions.

 

[BrianBaughn]

The only thing you said that you tried was checking all your settings.

Do you get error messages?

Perhaps it's a problem in your Keychain.

Wait to see what others say first...but if no one comes up with a better idea you could try eliminating all traces of the account on your Mac and then re-adding it. First, get rid of all your SMTP Server List items. Then delete the account from Mail. Next, remove all Keychain items pertaining to the account.

 

[techwarrior]

At one time, I had issues running both Ethernet and WiFi. Once I changed service order, mail starting working again. I recall I disabled Ethernet or WiFi until it worked, the set the order so the one that worked went first. Or, you could just disable one of the interfaces.

 

[jpn]

mac mail suddenly stopped connecting to server.

macOS 10.13.6 mail 11.5

I have checked all settings (none of which were changed) with mby service provider and everything is ok. They say that I'm not the only mac user to report this kind of problem. I can connect with android phone and PC. I can connect with safari through my provider's webmail app. My wife's iphoneX had the same issue but seems to have resolved itself today with no interference on our part.

Everything points to the problem being a macmail or macOS thing.

I have no updates pending. It does not appear that the problem (started at some point after 10:42 on 3-1) coincides with any recent mac updates that were downloaded to my MacBook.

I've run out of things to try. Any suggestions.

i know you have said that nothing has been changed that would have caused you to not be able to connect.
but, obviously, something has changed, somewhere, somehow.

when i have had problems with macOS Mail not being able to connect to my various email accounts' servers, the problems have been, in order of successfully concentrating effort to fix it:
1 recheck password to be correct
2 recheck incoming port number
3 change the incoming port number to an allowed alternative (many times you are given 2 possibilities for incoming port servers)
4 SSL needed or not?
5 password method correct? (strangely, mac Mail often defaults to the wrong one)

after you have thoroughly played around with the above, then i have found that the advice given above by a different user to throughly and completely nuke the entire mail setting, deleting it, and then creating it again, is indeed the best advice.

the above is especially true if its a Certificate problem. when you set up a new mail setting, if there is a Certificate problem, it gives you one and only one time to actually fix it (when you get an error message saying that the server is not trusted, a screen appears and you can ask for Details, then tell it to Trust it). but you never get that screen again in the way that allows you to fix the problem if you dont fix the problem at that first time it appears.

also: oddly, i dont know the reason, certain ISP can in fact want your iOS Mail settings and your macOS Mail connections to be different.

 

[drainsbe]

Had the same issue manifest about the same time w/my yahoo account in macOS Mail, other two accounts continue to work just fine. WebUI for Yahoo works perfectly. Have not been able to find a resolution... have gone back and forth from wifi to wired, wired to wifi.. on wire currently. have deleted, and re-added account. macOS Mail only provides a radio button to choose mail provider... tried circumventing by choosing other, but once you provide the yahoo credentials its as if you chose the yahoo button. the settings it uses for the connection are a mystery.. they have to be somewhere but I cant find them. Currently logging connection messages... from what I've seen so far it appears that connections to the yahoo server establish, but no read/write seems to take place...

INITIATING CONNECTION Mar 06 07:44:05.566 host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x0 -- thread:0x600000208700

INITIATING CONNECTION Mar 06 07:44:05.566 host:imap.1and1.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x0 -- thread:0x600000027f40

INITIATING CONNECTION Mar 06 07:44:05.566 host:imap.mail.yahoo.com -- port:0 -- socket:0x0 -- thread:0x6000001e7580

INITIATING CONNECTION Mar 06 07:44:05.566 host:smtp.gmail.com -- port:465 -- socket:0x0 -- thread:0x600000006140

CONNECTED Mar 06 07:44:05.569 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNone] -- host:imap.mail.yahoo.com -- port:143 -- socket:0x600003e9c060 -- thread:0x6000001e7580

WROTE Mar 06 07:44:11.681 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelTLSv1_2] -- host:imap.1and1.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x600003ef1260 -- thread:0x600000218780
DONE

WROTE Mar 06 07:44:11.682 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelTLSv1_2] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x600003edf8a0 -- thread:0x600000119740
DONE

macOS 10.14.3 (18D109)
MacMail Version 12.2 (3445.102.3)

i know you have said that nothing has been changed that would have caused you to not be able to connect.
but, obviously, something has changed, somewhere, somehow.

when i have had problems with macOS Mail not being able to connect to my various email accounts' servers, the problems have been, in order of successfully concentrating effort to fix it:
1 recheck password to be correct
2 recheck incoming port number
3 change the incoming port number to an allowed alternative (many times you are given 2 possibilities for incoming port servers)
4 SSL needed or not?
5 password method correct? (strangely, mac Mail often defaults to the wrong one)

after you have thoroughly played around with the above, then i have found that the advice given above by a different user to throughly and completely nuke the entire mail setting, deleting it, and then creating it again, is indeed the best advice.

the above is especially true if its a Certificate problem. when you set up a new mail setting, if there is a Certificate problem, it gives you one and only one time to actually fix it (when you get an error message saying that the server is not trusted, a screen appears and you can ask for Details, then tell it to Trust it). but you never get that screen again in the way that allows you to fix the problem if you dont fix the problem at that first time it appears.

also: oddly, i dont know the reason, certain ISP can in fact want your iOS Mail settings and your macOS Mail connections to be different.

mac mail suddenly stopped connecting to server.

macOS 10.13.6 mail 11.5

I have checked all settings (none of which were changed) with my service provider and everything is ok. They say that I'm not the only mac user to report this kind of problem. I can connect with android phone and PC. I can connect with safari through my provider's webmail app. My wife's iphoneX had the same issue but seems to have resolved itself today with no interference on our part.

Everything points to the problem being a macmail or macOS thing.

I have no updates pending. It does not appear that the problem (started at some point after 10:42 on 3-1) coincides with any recent mac updates that were downloaded to my MacBook.

I've run out of things to try. Any suggestions.

 

[bohica]

I'm having this same exact problem suddenly. Same issues as above - same OS, same Mail version. I can send/receive emails to and from 4 different email addresses on iPad, iPhone, and through the browser, but MacMail on my Mac Pro just says "connecting" and never does. When I try to go into preferences and do anything at all, it tells me it's unable to verify password or username, but I have not changed ANY settings at all on my computer. The ONLY thing new was a new modem installed on Sunday, but my email was fine Sunday afternoon and evening and fine on Monday until Monday evening, then it started this crap. All other internet connections etc. work totally fine. Just the frikkin MacMail. Tried rebooting everything several times, deleting the plist, and I even tried to download Thunderbird just to try a different mail program, but get the same result when I try to set up a known working email. Says the password or username can't be verified. WTH??? I haven't done any updates (since my Mac Pro is old), and haven't manually changed any settings at all. It's maddening. HELP.

UPDATE: It seems to be intermittently receiving emails, and then goes back to not logging in and showing the exclamation mark, then I get more emails after awhile, and it does it again. I absolutely cannot send anything at all, though. Really really weird.

 

[timidpimpin]

This is a bug I have experienced in Mail for El Capitan, High Sierra and Mojave. But I have not experienced it at all for months. This was using Gmail over IMAP.

I'm pretty sure it's actually a bug on the google servers, because I was able to use other mail services when gmail didn't work. It was happening on and off for a week or so last summer.

 

[bohica]

This was an Optimum server.

 

[fromanelli]

You haven't changed anything. I have been having the same problem with Apple Mail on my Macbook Pro since one of the updates. I can go to google or to my phone and receive my mail fine, but not on my macbook. I would love to see an update that would address the bug, whether it is from Apple or Google or both.