Mail is unable to connect server because password check

Question

Hi, since Tiger 10.4.7 I have the problem that Mail cannot connect to my POP mail server. The error message said that my password wouldn't be accepted from server.
I am sure that the password is correct because my pop server don't ask for a password (the server use single sign on from my internet access data).
The problem occurse very often if Mail runs a while (up to 1 hour) and than the cyclic email check fails. The error occours only at the first account in my list, the second is never affected. I tested this because I changed the order of my accounts and than the seconde (and now the first) account was affected by this problem.
Workaround is restart Mail and it will work the next hour.
Jan Lolling

Answer 1

Hi Jan.
I am sure that the password is correct because my
pop server
don't ask for a password
This doesn't make sense. What do you mean? How can a
password be correct if the server doesn't ask for it?
I had a similar problem. I change my password every three months, on the 1st. I changed, as usual, on the 1st of October, and instantly had problems.
Mail would sometimes refuse to connect, saying that it's got the wrong password. If I re-entered the password, Mail usually connected. Sometimes it didn't and I'd have to re-enter the password again. Meanwhile, that same password worked fine if I went to the .Mac web page, or to the discussions page, or to the iTunes store.
I quickly determined that it's not the password. It's not the server. It's Mail and/or the keychain. I dug out the old Keychain First Aid application, which no longer works. I dug out Keychain Access, which said that the last time I'd updated my .Mac password was July, which was incorrect. I quit Keychain Access and launched Mail, and was again told that Mail needed my .Mac password. I updated it, checked mail, quit Mail, and checked the keychain again. It still showed not updated since July. This meant that Mail was not talking to the keychain, for unknown reasons.
I updated the password in Keychain Access, saved and quit, and tried again... and again got the message that Mail had the wrong password. Quit Mail, relaunched Keychain Access, and found that Mail was not on the list of applications which could access that password. I added Mail to the list, saved and quit, relaunched Mail, and all is working.
At some time between July and today something happened which denied Mail access to the keychain. As I started having the problem after I updated to 10.4.8, I suspect the update.