Mail won't retrieve messages?

Hi there
I just got my first mac, a MacBook Pro. I have been setting it up today, and all was going well. I logged in my mail account and it was retrieving all my emails from my hotmail account (past messages that I have already read). Then randomly it stopped working, I can still use the app, but it has stopped receiving emails, even though it is not yet up to date. I have received new messages that came through on my iPhone but nothing on my mac. I have tried opening Mail's activity monitor and then clicking get mail. It connects to my hotmail account, says checking for new mail, the switches to "preparing to retrieve new messages" and stays there for quite a while, then eventually just goes blank. Any ideas what the problem is? I have tried closing the app and opening it again, restarting the computer etc.
Thanks in advance for any help

Judy,
Welcome to the Discussions.
If you Upgraded from 10.4.11 or earlier to Leopard 10.5.6, it is probably what has been covered by the support document at the link below:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2537
If you also find any files named to include MessageSorting (which would mean you once have upgraded from a version of OSX earlier than 10.4), remove those, also, but never restore those.
To find the correct location for the Mail folder, open a Finder window, click on the icon of a house in the Sidebar (this is known often as "Home"), click on Library in that Home user directory, and then to open the Mail folder found there.
Ernie

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