Cant retrieve e-mail, password wont authorise even though I can send mail.

Question

I have set up all settings, gone through all I can think of and I still cant get my mail either through Outlook express in classic or Mail. I get the message"the pop server "pop.tiscali.co.uk" rejected the password for user. I dont understand why I'm not the user and why I can send but not get mail...cos I'm still the user whether I send or receive. I have a pc which I am using to get my mail at the moment, which is on the same address and settings, but it just wont work with the Mac...any suggestions other than temper tantrums!! help me Please...

Answer 1

You may have some password confusion going on here.
You will have a password and username for your broadband connection. You would have entered this in the netgear router at some time to connect onto tiscali.
The netgear router is the bit that contacts tiscali and makes the broadband connection with tiscali, not the mac.
Your mac makes a connection with the netgear router with whatever password you might have given the router the router then allows the mac to route through to tiscali. This is where the 'purple ball with a yellow lightening pattern in the middle' come in - Internet Connect - it is one of the ways for establishing a connection with the outside world - in this case the netgear router. As long as you are able to access web pages with safari or whatever then you are logged onto your router and that is logged onto tiscali and its email server. (As long as the internet is working you could quit Internet Connect and ignore it)
You may have a separate password and username for your email account at tiscali - this you should have entered in the mail preferences for you account details. Although tiscali allow you to have the same password and username for both the broadband connection and the email account.
Anyway you originally said that you can send emails but not receive them.
1. You are connected to tiscali broadband otherwise you would not be able to send emails.
2. The problem lies with the settings on the mail setup. If you are able to receive emails on you pc then have a look at the settings on Outlook Express?? and see if they are the same as the settings on mac mail.
3 Consider whether you are entering the correct password/username. You could check by going to the tiscali web page and logging into your email on the web.