Mail in MacBook doesn't work!
 

Hi, I have just bought a new Macbook, the cheapest model. I have an old IBook G4 and have done a transfer of my folders from the old to the new Mac. In the new mac, everything seems to be there with the exception of my MAIL emails. The mailboxes are all there, empty. When I open Mail, nothing happens, no window appears. I have to go into Window and click on Message Viewer if I want to see something. I tried to send a few test emails and nothing happens, no sounds or anything else. The Sent box keeps staying empty and nothing else happens. When I try and close MAIL it blocks - every single time - and I have to force quit.
I did an erase and re-install using the original - and new - disks that came with the MacBook, but I have had the same result.
My old little Mac has not given me any trouble of this kind at all - hardly any trouble in 4 years! - so I am a bit at a loss. And I am not a Mac expert really, I just use it!
Anybody can help? I saw somebody had posted a similar problem but his went away with a re-installation - mine didn't.

how did you move the 'files and folders' over?... did you do it manually? or with Migration Assistant?

Do you have any 3rd party plugins for Mail.app (httpmail for example) ?

Same problem
 

Hi, I've just got a white MacBook and used Migration Asst. for the transfer from my G3 iBook.

Exactly the same thing happened - the mail folders were all there but with nothing in them, plus I could not send a 'test' mail nor receive new mail (which I knew was there via my ISPs webmail option).

I checked the Apple knowledge database (or whatever it's called) and found some stuff there - obviously it's known as a problem. However, in trying to use the suggested fix, everything was going well until it said the MacBook would ask did I want this or that, and as that didn't happen I could go no further.

In the end I had to ring Apple Support and after five calls totalling 2-3 hours it was resolved. (And I really mean 2-3 hours - my portable handset even went flat meaning I had to ring back the next day to conclude it all!)

Apple were patient and great - although I found the Philippino accents a little difficult at times. However, it did mean basically a lost afternoon as I also contacted my ISPs to make sure my settings were right as Apple thought this may be the problem. (The settings were correct.)

In the end the Apple people got me to do an 'erase and reinstall' (after backing up) and then did not use Migration Asst. but brought across all my settings for Calendar, Diary, iTunes, Mail etc etc etc manually.

Good luck, Grahame

Many thanks for that. How do you transfer stuff manually? I have already done an erase and install and then used the migration ass and firewire to transfer things over.

And please.... how do you transfer things manually? I of course used migration assistant and firewire...

If the messages are still on the old computer or somewhere other than your new computer, you need to copy them to the new MacBook.

1. On the MacBook, make certain Mail is not running.
2. From within the Finder, use the Go menu to select Home. In the window that opens, open the folder Library. Then open the folder Mail.
3. You want to copy to this location all of the folders from your old computer which began with the text IMAP or POP. Here's an example of what these folders might be titled: IMAP-LauraCa@Gmail.com. You''ll also want to copy over the folder called Mailboxes which will be there for any Mailboxes you created on the iBook (they're called Mailboxes, but in Mail they look like folders). If you had any Mail rules or Smart Folders on the iBook, copy those files, too.

If you've already moved the messages over, try doing a Rebuild of the mailboxes.

In Mail, select a Mailbox in the left Sidebar. From the Mailbox menu, select Rebuild.

If you have multiple accounts, you'll have to do this for each account. So, let's say you have a Yahoo e-mail account and one with Gmail. To the left of where it says Inbox is a disclosure triangle. Click this so it shows the Inbox for each account. Select one of them, then perform the Rebuild command. If this works, you'll have to do this for each Mailbox (Inbox, Drafts, etc.) within each account.

Excuse my obvious ignorance, do you move the files over by CD-rom? or What?
Thanks for your patience!
And will this (would this) also cure the fact that MAIL on the MacBook doesn't behave anything like it should? I.E. doesn't open properly and never shuts properly without a force quit

dont use IE.

switch to Safari or Firefox. IE is very out of date.. and was actually discontinued many years ago!

IE is what? I am sorry but one of the reasons I use Mac's is that I don't really know much about computers!
I used firewire to transfer the content of my old Mac on the new one and Migration Assistant, of course.
To transfer files etc manually, how do I go about?

If you've already transferred the files to the new Mac, try the Rebuild instructions I gave above.

As for Photek's comments about IE, I imagine he misunderstood you. People often refer to the Microsoft browser, Internet Explorer, as IE, so he may have inadvertently misread what you were saying.

I tried Rebuild and nothing happened. I also tried something else: I opened a guest account and set up Mail copying one of the account information from my old Mac by hand. I checked thoroughly. On my old Mac Mail works fine. Even on the guest account of the new mac, it says it cannot find my address or something. Mail does not behave as in my administrator account, at least. It opens properly and shuts down without having to force quit it. But after a few attempts at sending a message, the "send" icon did not respond any more....

With a backup of yor old messages intact somewhere other than the MacBook, open Mail on the MacBook.

From the Mail menu, select Preferences. In the window that opens, select Accounts. Click the account(s) you have, then press the Minus sign at the bottom to delete the account(s). Then, click the Plus sign and re-create the account from scratch you. You will need to know your mail server addresses to do this, so having your iBook nearby for reference may be helpful.

Does the sending and receiving of mail work properly then (you can test by simply sending yourself an e-mail)?

I did what you said, and the Macbook is now stuc k on "checking connection to mail server..."
I copied exactly what was in my old ibook, where it works just fine!

I believe you that you matched the information, but something is clearly amiss.

First of all, with which company do you have your e-mail? Gmail? Yahoo? Your ISP?

Gmail and cablecom... 2 different companies, therefore...tried with both, same result. It gets stuck trying to connect to mail server....

For Gmail, follow Google's instructions here. Take your time, and it's especially important that you follow the instruction not to prevent automatic account setup that they mention in step 3.

I'm not familiar with Cablecom, and a quick web search shows a few companies with that name. One is in China, another in the United States, another in Mexico, etc. If you don't mind me asking, which are you using?

The swiss branch I suppose.... the address is @hispeed. I'll follow the instructions fro gmail and let you know. Many thanks already for your patience!

I should have said this in my last post... Delete your Gmail account from within Mail before setting it up with the instructions I linked to above.

For Cablecom, it's difficult for me as someone who doesn't use their service to access their setup instructions. You, as a subscriber, can see them here. Again, delete your existing account for this service in Mail before proceeding.

Tried to set up according to the google instructions. The Macbook still blocks on "searching to connect to the mail server..."

Hi again, I tried with cablecom again and no, same problem....

I have another find: I tried to set up a gmail account following the google instructions on a guest account on the Macbook. For once, everything seemed to work and the account went online, even found some emails....too many in fact! it looks as if it's trying to download 2281 messages!!!! All the content of my online gmail a/c it seems....

I had the same problem after using migration assitant (along with a bunch of other glitches) and decided that I would delete the plist file to see if that solved anything. Low and behold it worked. I deleted my accounts first, but I don't think its necessary. The plist file is located under your user folder at /library/preferences/com.apple.mail.plist. Hope that helps.