Is this the place to ask about mac email failure ?
 

My email failed today - can't receive anything but I can use googlemail with no problem . I spent an hour with Apple tech and nothing has been resolved .

It might help if you told us what Mac, what OS X version, what you do, what happens, and what doesn't happen that you expected to happen.

Is there an error message? If so, what is it?
When you say you can use Googlemail, do you mean you can access your mail on Gmail's web interface?

email fail
 

iMac OS X10.8.2
When I try to retrieve email to the inbox I get the alert chime for incoming mail but nothing shows . There is an alert in the inbox - an exclamation point - which leads me to a message " the attempt to send data to the server ( null ) failed " . Tech support says everything is ok and I should be getting emails but no luck . My internet connection is fine though it was down ten hours on friday due to a local problem my provider had . I can send and receive Gmail .

The fact that it doesn't have a name for the server makes me think something is entered incorrectly in the account settings. Maybe an extraneous space before a period.

None of the account settings were changed for months but there was a spam email that I opened before realizing what it was . Since then the email is out and my printer isn't working - I don't know if that's connected but trying the printer this evening gave me some error message and no print .

The printer, and your email software are not connected in any way - unless you are getting an error only when you try to print an email ... ?

Restart your Mac, and try to print (don't print from your mail, but something else, like a textedit document just to test your printer.
Give us the error message that you get if printing fails.

Finally, be sure to try out your Mail after the restart, too.
Can you send emails through your Mail?
Send an email, and have the recipient call you when they get the email, and have them reply to your email, so you then get one back through the same path.

I checked supply levels in the printer and all good .
Here are the error messages I found

E [19/Jan/2013:12:41:03 -0500] [Job 4] Unable to send data to printer.
E [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] Job stopped due to filter errors; please consult the error_log file for details.
D [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] The following messages were recorded from 12:44:43 to 12:44:58
D [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] STATE: - com.hp.e.2-error
D [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] STATE: - com.hp.p.6.3.2-warning
D [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] STATE: - com.hp.s.82-warning
D [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] STATE: - com.hp.p.9.3.1-warning
D [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] STATE: - com.hp.p.0.1.24-report
D [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] STATE: - com.hp.p.3.1.17-warning
D [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] STATE: - com.hp.p.5.3.2-warning
D [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] STATE: - com.hp.p.3.1.15-report
D [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] STATE: - cover-open-warning
D [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] STATE: - com.hp.p.6.1.1-warning
D [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] STATE: - com.hp.p.8.3.17-warning
D [19/Jan/2013:12:44:58 -0500] [Job 4] STATE: - marker-supply-low-report
D [


I've tried using my email but nothing gets to the recipient . I've used gmail to confirm this .

Maybe a corrupt mail database.
Quit mail
Navigate to /Users/username/Library/Mail/V2/MailData
There are files called "Envelope Index,Envelope Index-shm,Envelope Index-wal"
These can deleted ( it is safe to do this promise....do this alot !)
Once deleted start up mail and it will say "importing mail...blah blah"
May take a while. But hopefully will resolve issue.

The other issue is Keychain entries for Mail Servers sometimes get corrupted too.
Open up keychain access, find all your passwords for mail servers (IMAP/POP/SMTP) and remove and re-enter in Mail > Preferences > Accounts
or wait for prompt when you do a send and receive.

Is this file in Terminal ? I can't find it using Finder .

The Library Folder is hidden by Apple. ;)

In Finder > click on go menu and hold down Option(alt key) to navigate to Library Folder

Have you already tried restarting your Mac?

What HP printer do you have (what model is it?)
Is it connect through your network (ethernet or wireless)? Or, USB?
Try resetting your printer.
Turn off printer power.
You are not done yet, so unplug the printer power cord.
I usually wait 10 minutes or so, but just unplugging for a few seconds should be fine.
Plug printer power cord in.
Double check that BOTH ends of your printer data cable are firmly attached.
Also, check that all doors on the printer are completely closed.
Restart the printer.

I really wanted to know if you get an error message when you try to print. (and not a listing of your printer log) So, try printing after that printer reset. If you get an error, it should be in your printer queue window. Are there documents showing in the list in that printer window? If so, click on each one, and then click the Delete button - so there's no documents waiting. Close that printer queue window. And - try to print again. ()

Who provides your email? Give the part of your email address after the @
If your internet browsing works, but mail does not, then you should still suspect your mail settings.

And a little tech note
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11704

I deleted the files you listed and restarted Mail .... same result - no new mail showing ?

And this message shows when I click on the exclamation point in the Inbox
The attempt to send data to the server “(null)” failed

Who is mail provider ?

And did it "rebuild" the index ie. did it say Importing messages ?

Are you sure all setting correct. Is connection manager showing any issues ?
Could well be a DNS issue.

Did you try restarting your Mac yet? not just the Mail app ...

Connection doctor shows everything ok .... email connection and all !
All green lights .

Yes it said importing messages and gave a number count .

Correction the connection doctor shows the earthlink showing a spinning ball .

Restarting mac - yes
HP 6980
USB
Reset ?
Printer power off , unplugged for half hour and plugged in again
Printer cable firm at both ends
Doors closed

Email provider earthlink.net


Another point - the printer does not shut off easily - I hit the flashing reset button and then have to hold the power button down and have to repeat this cycle 3 or 4 times before the beast shuts down !

OK Email wise i would double check all settings.
And remove entries from Keychain access for these servers below.

POP Server pop.earthlink.net (SSL must be off)
SMTP Server smtpauth.earthlink.net s
SMTP requires authentication YES: using Complete EarthLink email address and password
SMTP Port 587 (SSL must be on )

Check your settings, DO NOT DELETE A POP ACCOUNT from Apple Mail settings as it will remove all email for that account !!!!

I have limited experience with Earthlink but anyone providing insecure mail services should not be trusted IMHO ;-)

Does the printer ever display an error message on your Mac?
Such as "The Computer Is Unable to Establish a Two-Way Communication with the Device." or some other message? You would not need to look at a log to see that message, as it should appear within the printer queue window.
And, the printer issue is coincidental, and would not be affected by your Mail problems.

When I try to print the message shows up about the printer cartridge not being able to move which is inaccurate as I can hear it traversing ..

Earthlink
 

First problem with earthlink email in ten years .

Every time I access keychain file it immediately quits ?
I never use keychain so is it worth deleting that folder in case the corrupted file is in there ?

Can I just trash the keychain file ? It quits every time I try to open it and I never use keychain .

Your print head may appear to you to be moving OK, but perhaps the printer is not "seeing" the position of that print head.
This may be very simple to get the printer working properly
Get access to the path where the print head moves, and look carefully for the encoding strip. That should be a clear plastic strip that runs along that carriage path. Take a lint-free cloth, and carefully wipe down both sides of that strip - at least as much as you can easily get at. Your goal is to make that strip as clean as possible. It accumulates paper dust, and what I call "ink residue".
Your system stores many passwords, and a few other items, in your keychain - so, you do access the keychain., even though you may not actually launch the Keychain Access.
But, to answer your question about keychain - Yes, you can just trash the keychain file. Your system will simply create another one, when it is needed. And - you may find that you need to enter passwords to set that up as needed. The keychain allows you to enter many password-protected apps and sites, without needing to enter passwords after the first time.

Trashing the keychain file WORKED !!Mail is working now !
THANKS to everyone for being patient with me !!!

Trashing the keychain file did the job !! Mail now working !!

Thanks for your help and patience !!

So there we go.....glad you are sorted with your Email.

The Keychain still after all these years has issues and does get corrupted from time to time.....or certainly some entries in it !

I personally use 1Password to store my website passwords and more, but keychain is still used by the internal functions of OS X certs, email passwords etc.

I'm near certain the source of the problem was the phony FedEx email .... when I tracked back things went odd after I opened that .

I somehow doubt that, they are usually a zip file....well and .exe with .zip extension. Which would not execute on OS X. Again any good email system would strip this out.