Apple Mail/AOL Mail Woes

[saxon48]

Forgive any skimping of important details in advance, seeing as I'm helping a long-distance friend with little experience on Macs.

My friend has the most up-to-date versions of both Snow Leopard and Apple Mail, and uses AOL as her primary email address.

For the last month or so, whenever she has tried to use Mail with her AOL account, it fails to connects to the server, and subsequently is unable to pull in any of her messages.

The error message she has been getting reads something like: "Could not connect to this AOL/Gmail/STMP server. Check your network connection and that you entered the correct information in the Account preferences. Also verify the the server supports SSL. If it does not, deselect the "Use SSL" checkbox in the Advanced tab of Account preferences"

or...

"The server returned the error: The connection to the server “imap.aol.com” on port 993 timed out."

or stil...

"The connection to the server “imap.gmail.com” on port 993 timed out." [NB: The Gmail messages are for her Droid, an account which she never uses].

Now of course, she has checked and re-checked that her AOL account information is accurate. Yet the problem still persists. Thoughts, anyone? Any help would be much appreciated.

And, starting just this evening, Mail.app won't even let her send any messages through the AOL account.

 

[bigus7674]

Maybe this could be of some help:

http://about.aol.com/faq/openmailaccess#MacOSX

or perhaps this:

http://help.aol.com/help/microsites/microsite.do?cmd=displayKCPopup&docType=kc&externalId=219584

 

[MisterMe]

Maybe this could be of some help:

http://about.aol.com/faq/openmailaccess#MacOSX

or perhaps this:

http://help.aol.com/help/microsites/microsite.do?cmd=displayKCPopup&docType=kc&externalId=219584

These two links do not address the OP's problem in any way. The OP has problems with accounts that are already setup and that had been working. The linked help sites deal primarily with setting-up accounts on new devices.

That said, the OP's girlfriend's problem appears to be related to connecting to the servers for AOL and GMail from foreign domains. This is a common problem. There are workarounds, but they require trial-and-error to ensure that they work.

As a first step, I would suggest that abandoned accounts be completely removed from the device in question. At the root of the GF's problem however, is the interaction between AOL and the originating domain of the email. Without clear, concise, and complete information about the situation, the OP's question will generate a lot more noise than signal.

I would suggest that the OP report back with real information rather the the bits and pieces that he has given so far. Hopefully, we can give him that help that his GF needs.

 

[saxon48]

That said, the OP's girlfriend's problem appears to be related to connecting to the servers for AOL and GMail from foreign domains. This is a common problem. There are workarounds, but they require trial-and-error to ensure that they work.

As a first step, I would suggest that abandoned accounts be completely removed from the device in question. At the root of the GF's problem however, is the interaction between AOL and the originating domain of the email. Without clear, concise, and complete information about the situation, the OP's question will generate a lot more noise than signal.

I would suggest that the OP report back with real information rather the the bits and pieces that he has given so far. Hopefully, we can give him that help that his GF needs.

How do you mean foreign domains? She has only ever used her Mac within the States. And as far as "abandoned" accounts go, she only has the AOL and Gmail, the latter being a necessity when she got her Droid. A couple hours ago, she tried completely removing both account from the Mail application, then re-added them to no avail. She still can not connect to the server, and is receiving the same error messages as documented in my original post.

 

[MisterMe]

How do you mean foreign domains? She has only ever used her Mac within the States. And as far as "abandoned" accounts go, she only has the AOL and Gmail, the latter being a necessity when she got her Droid. A couple hours ago, she tried completely removing both account from the Mail application, then re-added them to no avail. She still can not connect to the server, and is receiving the same error messages as documented in my original post.

A "foreign domain" is a domain outside the domain that hosts the server. In this case, the foreign domain is any domain other than the aol.com domain. This does not mean that all other domains will cause problems, but some may--and in your GF's case, at least one has.

As for your point that your GF has only two email accounts on her device, well that gets back to my request that you give clear, concise, and complete information about your GF's setup. If you give incomplete information, then you can expect useless help.