Help...my email is stuck at "preparing to retrieve messages"

all of my connections are green-lighted,
i've tried starting and restarting
i've taken accounts offline and then back online
i've looked for the IMAP/account concerned/offline cache to delete it but couldn't find it...
....when i check new mail it spins and spins and under window/activity, it's stuck at "preparing to retrieve messages."
i can SEE occationally a flash of the status bar lower left saying "incoming mail, 2 of 174" or some such, but it then disappears and NO new messages come in.  help!

I'm having the same problem.
Bought a new iMac that had Snow Leopard when shipped. Transferred everything fine from my PowerPC iMac running Leopard to the new iMac with Snow Leopard. Got everything setup and then received my free upgrade notification from Apple.
Performed the upgrade and since then Mail is forever preparing to import messages, but only for 1 of the 2 login accounts.
Mac OS X 10.7.1 Lion
2.93 ghz intel core i7
8 GB 1333 mhz DDR3

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  • Mail is stuck at Preparing to Import Messages

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