Mail going offline repeatedly

Hi. My mail application has suddenly started going offline repeatedly. I have a wireless DSL account and even when I have a signal and am online (according to system preferences/network/airport), mail tells me I'm offline. I "go online," it checks mail for a second or two, and then tells me I'm offline again. Usually takes about 15 times of going "back online" before I finally get mail. Any thoughts???

I have the same problem and I have not found a solution yet, even though there are postings on this subject dating back to 2005. The problem seems to be some misconfiguration in mail.app b/c when I use a web mail service I have no trouble connecting to the server and downloading mail.
The very annoying thing about mail.app is that when the server refuses connection the email account goes automatically offline. If you don't reset it manually, it will never try to download your email again!!! That bugs me enough that I am considering switching to some other email client.
The time interval for checking mail does not matter. I have it set at 15 min but when I had set to 30 min I had the same problem (and did not get mail for hours).
I did change the settings in System Preferences > Network > Network Port Configurations but that did not seem to make a difference.
Incidentally, the Alert message I get when mail goes offline is:
The server error encountered was: The connection to the server "email.xxx.zzz" on port 0 timed out
This "port 0" puzzles me b/c I am using SSL which supposedly connects to port 995 (according the mail>preferences>account>advanced...)
Themis
iMac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.8)

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Mail goes offline automatically

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In the week or so since I did the 10.5.4 upgrade, I've noticed that over the course of the work day (machine is not asleep, and network is supposedly always connected) when I look at my Mail Inbox I periodically see the little warning triangle - the one with the ! in it - next to my Inbox. This supposedly means that Mail cannot get online and is therefore offline. When I see this, I hit "Get Mail"...and when I do, Mail goes out and checks and goes "bonk" and all seems fine. Until it happens again...which could be within minutes or anytime thereafter.
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Message was edited by: jsun

I just found this issue addressed on MacFixIt - http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20080730133625417 is website. Below is a summary.
For some users, this problem is just a matter of corrupted settings files, and removing them may help. To do this, go to the /username/Library/Preferences/ folder and remove the file com.apple.Mail.plist, then restart the Mail application. When Mail starts, enter one account at a time and test each accordingly. For MobileMe users who were switched from .Mac, set up the accounts with the "[email protected]" address instead of the old "@mac.com" address.
I just followed directions and basically I re-created the email accounts. Fortunately, all my old emails still showed up. I hd to reset my preferred "views". I think the new set up process also reset my Comcast settings. A few months ago I had to reset ports (Comast refused to say why), so I will see what happens. But so far so good.

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THanks
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Then two days ago, and doing that fix only worked after several attempts over a period of hours.
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When I do a mail check, the mail client's 'progress area' (the grey horizontal band) quickly reports connecting to the server, or even the authenticating step, but then stops and 'chimes' (that there is no new mail found). Checking webmail, of course, I see tons of mail waiting for me to come collect it.
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I searched and couldn't seem to find an answer for this. When my wife checks her mail in the morning after the computer sleepsshe gets the triangle with the exclamation point.
She will click go online and then she can check the mail.
It seems like when the computer sleeps it loses the internet connection and mail does not realize it has recconected when the computer is waked.
Doesn't do it with mine when but I use wireless.
Not sure if it is a router issue or not, and if so any idea how to fin it.
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Mail goes offline by itself. Only restarting Mail helps.

It has become a real drag...
I need to restart Mail every few minutes.
I have many accounts with different servers and providers and they all go offline, so it's not a problem on their side, given that as soon as I restart Mail everything is OK.
I work with email: having to restart always will bring me to abandon Apple Mail after years of faithful usage.

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Mail goes Offline, online, Offline, etc.

Recently mail has been acting weirdly. My main account goes off line and I click the triangle and get this dialogue:
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*Then I click "Take All Accounts Online" quit Mail and start it again and and the same thing occurs. This time on my second click on the triangle I get:*
+The mail server denied access to the account “western kentuck” because an administrator or other mail client was using it when Mail tried to log in. Please try again later.+
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Interestingly, it doesn't stay that way. Sometimes it gets the mail just fine.
Don't know why.

I've had the same problem since the beginning of the month. I thought it was to do with my iPhone being synced with the laptop, but now I'm not so sure because I receive all my mail OK on the phone.

Mail goes offline at home

Mail has worked flawlessly for four years. Over the past several days, mail has continually gone off line when I am connected at home. My network is working fine (I am online and can receive and send info from skype/webpages, etc.) and when I connect through webmail I can send and receive messages. I have four mail accounts configured through the Mail, each is imap configured to a separate Gmail account. Each account shows the ! error which reads "The server error encountered was: The connection to the server “imap.gmail.com” on port 993 timed out." I can take my laptop to any other network and all the accounts go online and are completely fine for the entire session. Then when I return home they go offline again. I have tried to eliminate my wireless network from the equation by direct connecting to the cable modem, but the issue remains.
Any help would allow me to gain control of my sanity.

This is the result of 'details' from connection doctor. Recall that this only happens from my home network.
Details:
CONNECTED Jun 12 07:22:32.834 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x1987b7c0 -- thread:0x19c0ddd0
CONNECTED Jun 12 07:22:32.855 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:smtp.gmail.com -- port:465 -- socket:0x19875730 -- thread:0x19803e00
READ Jun 12 07:22:33.119 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x1987b7c0 -- thread:0x19c0ddd0
* OK Gimap ready for requests from 74.75.90.3 x10if13064046qaa.18
WROTE Jun 12 07:22:33.121 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x1987b7c0 -- thread:0x198636d0
1.1147 CAPABILITY
READ Jun 12 07:22:33.127 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:smtp.gmail.com -- port:465 -- socket:0x19875730 -- thread:0x19803e00
220 mx.google.com ESMTP cz12sm2746446qab.5
READ Jun 12 07:22:33.168 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x1987b7c0 -- thread:0x198636d0
* CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 UNSELECT IDLE NAMESPACE QUOTA ID XLIST CHILDREN X-GM-EXT-1 XYZZY SASL-IR AUTH=XOAUTH
1.1147 OK Thats all she wrote! x10if13064046qaa.18
WROTE Jun 12 07:22:33.174 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x1987b7c0 -- thread:0x198636d0
2.1147 LOGIN <mail account1> ********
WROTE Jun 12 07:22:33.266 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:smtp.gmail.com -- port:465 -- socket:0x19875730 -- thread:0x19803e00
EHLO [192.168.1.132]
READ Jun 12 07:22:33.314 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:smtp.gmail.com -- port:465 -- socket:0x19875730 -- thread:0x19803e00
250-mx.google.com at your service, [74.75.90.3]
250-SIZE 35882577
250-8BITMIME
250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN XOAUTH
250 ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
WROTE Jun 12 07:22:33.319 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:smtp.gmail.com -- port:465 -- socket:0x19875730 -- thread:0x19803e00
READ Jun 12 07:22:33.540 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x1987b7c0 -- thread:0x198636d0
* CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 UNSELECT IDLE NAMESPACE QUOTA ID XLIST CHILDREN X-GM-EXT-1 UIDPLUS COMPRESS=DEFLATE
2.1147 OK <mail account1>@gmail.com <my name> authenticated (Success)
WROTE Jun 12 07:22:33.551 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x1987b7c0 -- thread:0x198636d0
3.1147 CAPABILITY
READ Jun 12 07:22:33.684 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x1987b7c0 -- thread:0x198636d0
* CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 UNSELECT IDLE NAMESPACE QUOTA ID XLIST CHILDREN X-GM-EXT-1 UIDPLUS COMPRESS=DEFLATE
3.1147 OK Success
WROTE Jun 12 07:22:33.692 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x1987b7c0 -- thread:0x198636d0
4.1147 LIST "" ""
READ Jun 12 07:22:33.804 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:smtp.gmail.com -- port:465 -- socket:0x19875730 -- thread:0x19803e00
535-5.7.1 Username and Password not accepted. Learn more at
535 5.7.1 http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?answer=14257 cz12sm2746446qab.5
WROTE Jun 12 07:22:33.811 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:smtp.gmail.com -- port:465 -- socket:0x19875730 -- thread:0x19803e00
QUIT
READ Jun 12 07:22:33.832 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x1987b7c0 -- thread:0x198636d0
* LIST (\Noselect) "/" "/"
4.1147 OK Success
WROTE Jun 12 07:22:33.840 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x1987b7c0 -- thread:0x198636d0
5.1147 LOGOUT
CONNECTED Jun 12 07:24:42.404 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x198449d0 -- thread:0x198007b0
READ Jun 12 07:24:42.606 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x198449d0 -- thread:0x198007b0
* OK Gimap ready for requests from 74.75.90.3 z5if22694176yhn.21
WROTE Jun 12 07:24:42.618 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x198449d0 -- thread:0x187e8f90
1.1161 CAPABILITY
READ Jun 12 07:24:42.673 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x198449d0 -- thread:0x187e8f90
* CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 UNSELECT IDLE NAMESPACE QUOTA ID XLIST CHILDREN X-GM-EXT-1 XYZZY SASL-IR AUTH=XOAUTH
1.1161 OK Thats all she wrote! z5if22694176yhn.21
WROTE Jun 12 07:24:42.685 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x198449d0 -- thread:0x187e8f90
2.1161 LOGIN <mail account2>@<domain2>.com ********
READ Jun 12 07:24:43.233 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x198449d0 -- thread:0x187e8f90
* CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 UNSELECT IDLE NAMESPACE QUOTA ID XLIST CHILDREN X-GM-EXT-1 UIDPLUS COMPRESS=DEFLATE
2.1161 OK <Mail account2>@<domain2>.com <my name> authenticated (Success)
WROTE Jun 12 07:24:43.240 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x198449d0 -- thread:0x187e8f90
3.1161 CAPABILITY
READ Jun 12 07:24:43.697 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x198449d0 -- thread:0x187e8f90
* CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 UNSELECT IDLE NAMESPACE QUOTA ID XLIST CHILDREN X-GM-EXT-1 UIDPLUS COMPRESS=DEFLATE
3.1161 OK Success
WROTE Jun 12 07:24:43.710 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x198449d0 -- thread:0x187e8f90
4.1161 LIST "" ""
READ Jun 12 07:24:43.860 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x198449d0 -- thread:0x187e8f90
* LIST (\Noselect) "/" "/"
4.1161 OK Success
WROTE Jun 12 07:24:43.868 [kCFStreamSocketSecurityLevelNegotiatedSSL] -- host:imap.gmail.com -- port:993 -- socket:0x198449d0 -- thread:0x187e8f90
5.1161 LOGOUT

Mail goes and comes offline by itself!

Hi, new here. Mail goes offline, an then it comes back again after a few seconds. Any clues? in the connection doctor everything is ok!
The error is: mac.mail.com on port 143 timed out
Thanks

Hi juca2929. Welcome here.
This is probably a .Mac issue that may fix itself after some time for no apparent reason. If Mail remains offline indefinitely, you may bring it back online manually by clicking on the (~) symbol in the mailbox list or by doing Mailbox > Go Online, for example.
If the problem persists, go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Network, choose Network Port Configurations from the Show popup menu, and make sure that the configuration used to connect to Internet appears at the top of the list. Leave checked (enabled) only the port configuration needed to connect to Internet and Built-in Ethernet (in that order if not the same), uncheck (disable) the rest of network port configurations and see whether that helps — if it doesn’t, turn ON again the ones you want enabled.

Mail going offline repeatedly

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