Mac experts... a conundrum.

[seawasp]

My father in law has a powerbook G4. He's been using it for quite some time. Recently, it decided to stop connecting to the net, and even when it will let him browse, it won't let him get his Email (using the Mac mail program). There have been no changes in his email accounts, no changes in anything that we know of in his Mac, and the other computers in the house connect just fine. Any ideas for what could cause Mac Mail to just suddenly refuse to work like that?

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

What version of OSX is it running?

In more recent versions of Mail.app there's a useful diagnostic tool: from the Window menu, select "Connection Doctor" and hit the "Show Detail" button. The Mail app will connect to each IMAP/POP3/SMTP server and provide a full diagnostic listing of the protocol exchange so you can see what's going on.

Note that there's a common authentication problem with Mail.app, which is as follows: when Mail.app gets into trouble and can't complete a connection, it throws up a dialog box that says something along the lines of "your account details or password are wrong: enter your password here". This happens if there's a dodgy internet connection, not because the password is wrong -- but in my experience at this point $ELDERLY_RELATIVE usually tries to enter their login password on the Mac, or their online banking password, or something else that is not, in fact, the password to their email account. Which Mail.app then happily stores, resulting in failures every time thereafter when it tries to collect or send email.

[mouser.livejournal.com]

No idea for any specific problems, but:
* "...stop connecting to the net, and even when it will let him browse..." isn't an error, it's a contradiction. CAN he browse? Can other computers see his on the network?

* Is this WiFi or directly connected?

* Is it full? Lots of space on the harddrive?

* Mail sounds like a secondary issue.

* Is there an Apple store near him?

[kpreid.livejournal.com]

Need more details on what exactly is happening — what the error messages are, timing, etc.

Seconding everything autopope and mouser said.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

I expect you've checked for DNS resolution problems? That's common, but often overlooked.