Mail crashes when connecting to IMAP accounts

Question

Hi all,
I have mail set up to check 5 different accounts. One is a POP account and 4 are IMAP accounts (2 gmail, 2 other mail providers).
Initially I had no problems at all with this setup. Mail had mirrored all 4 IMAP accounts and was downloading new messages without a problem. One day, however, something went awry and every time I took one of my Gmail accounts online, Mail would crash. I figured I'd leave that account offline and keep checking that gmail account the regular way.
This worked for a while. More recently though Mail has started crashing when any of my IMAP accounts are taken online. If I leave the 4 IMAP accounts offline and only the POP account online, it does not crash.
Here is what I've tried so far:
Repair permissions/disk.
Erase and Install Tiger (up to 10.4.11)
Moving .mbox files to the desktop and letting mail download the inboxes again (not ideal, the largest inbox is 800MB and a gmail one)
Removing the accounts and starting from scratch.
Nothing seemed to change a thing, Mail now crashes on startup if the IMAP accounts are online (if I take that Mailbox offline, Mail works fine).
I checked the crash reports (which I have been reporting to Apple like crazy, not that they seem to have noticed), and it always seems to be Thread 0 that crashes. Here are the last two crashed Thread 0s:
Thread 0 Crashed:
0 libobjc.A.dylib 0x90a594c7 objc_msgSend + 23
1 com.apple.Foundation 0x9281042f __NSFireMainThreadPerform + 434
2 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x90860375 __CFRunLoopPerformPerform + 82
3 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x9082cf32 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 1213
4 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x9082ca6e CFRunLoopRunInMode + 61
5 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x92def878 RunCurrentEventLoopInMode + 285
6 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x92deeeb9 ReceiveNextEventCommon + 184
7 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x92deedd9 BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInMode + 81
8 com.apple.AppKit 0x93275485 _DPSNextEvent + 572
9 com.apple.AppKit 0x93275076 -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 137
10 com.apple.AppKit 0x93364a80 -[NSButtonCell performClick:] + 851
11 com.apple.AppKit 0x93362dbc -[NSApplication sendAction:to:from:] + 107
12 com.apple.AppKit 0x93410d0f -[NSMenu performActionForItemAtIndex:] + 455
13 com.apple.AppKit 0x93410a51 -[NSCarbonMenuImpl performActionWithHighlightingForItemAtIndex:] + 103
14 com.apple.AppKit 0x934106a8 -[NSMenu performKeyEquivalent:] + 766
15 com.apple.AppKit 0x934100ca -[NSApplication _handleKeyEquivalent:] + 254
16 com.apple.AppKit 0x93343dbb -[NSApplication sendEvent:] + 3542
17 com.apple.mail 0x00038d0e 0x1000 + 228622
18 com.apple.AppKit 0x9326ee1e -[NSApplication run] + 547
19 com.apple.AppKit 0x93262d4f NSApplicationMain + 573
20 com.apple.mail 0x00094df2 0x1000 + 605682
21 com.apple.mail 0x00094d19 0x1000 + 605465
and
Thread 0 Crashed:
0 libobjc.A.dylib 0x90a594c7 objc_msgSend + 23
1 com.apple.Foundation 0x9281042f __NSFireMainThreadPerform + 434
2 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x90860375 __CFRunLoopPerformPerform + 82
3 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x9082cf32 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 1213
4 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x9082ca6e CFRunLoopRunInMode + 61
5 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x92def878 RunCurrentEventLoopInMode + 285
6 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x92deeeb9 ReceiveNextEventCommon + 184
7 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x92deedd9 BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInMode + 81
8 com.apple.AppKit 0x93275485 _DPSNextEvent + 572
9 com.apple.AppKit 0x93275076 -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 137
10 com.apple.AppKit 0x93364a80 -[NSButtonCell performClick:] + 851
11 com.apple.AppKit 0x93362dbc -[NSApplication sendAction:to:from:] + 107
12 com.apple.AppKit 0x93410d0f -[NSMenu performActionForItemAtIndex:] + 455
13 com.apple.AppKit 0x93410a51 -[NSCarbonMenuImpl performActionWithHighlightingForItemAtIndex:] + 103
14 com.apple.AppKit 0x934106a8 -[NSMenu performKeyEquivalent:] + 766
15 com.apple.AppKit 0x934100ca -[NSApplication _handleKeyEquivalent:] + 254
16 com.apple.AppKit 0x93343dbb -[NSApplication sendEvent:] + 3542
17 com.apple.mail 0x00038d0e 0x1000 + 228622
18 com.apple.AppKit 0x9326ee1e -[NSApplication run] + 547
19 com.apple.AppKit 0x93262d4f NSApplicationMain + 573
20 com.apple.mail 0x00094df2 0x1000 + 605682
21 com.apple.mail 0x00094d19 0x1000 + 605465
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Answer 1

Have no idea whether this will help or if it's even what resolved my same recent imap problems that involved primarily *GMAIL imaps*, but it seems to be helping.
First, make sure all imap accounts are dragged up to the very top of the inbox/accounts list: *imaps above pops*
(Any IMAP accounts that have multiple folders should be at the top of the imaps).
Second, go into Mail > preference > accounts > [ each imap account ] > Advanced Tab
Above the box for the Port is *_IMAP Path Prefix_:* Type in INBOX
(reminder: If it's gmail, make sure your port is 993 and Use SSL is checked.)
Hope this helps. so far this is what seems to have helped w/mine (i have other problems such as zero results in my smart mailboxes--they no longer work).
I also have a different imap account not google/gmail and I don't use INBOX in the path prefix on that one and it has always worked just fine; the problems started with gmail imaps.
i'll be interested to know if it helps anyone else.
(Note: I manually synchronize the gmail IMAP accounts because having the auto synch box checked also seems to cause problems but your experience may vary)
cheers!
now if anyone can tell me why after all these years apple has not fixed the lookupd / dns / network bugs that result in this (among other similar failures)
Message was edited by: MacMacster