Outgoing mail has completely died... Help...

Question

Hey all,
This is the weirdest thing.
All my outgoing mail is frozen in the outbox.
Eventually I get the error message
"The server at mail.stevelevine.com cannot be contacted on any of the default ports.
Select a different outgoing mail server fromt he list below or try later to leave the message in your outbox until it can be sent."
Note that this has nothing to do with any of the outgoing servers.  I have 6 or 7 on this mail system and the same is suddenly happening with all of them.
Tried quitting mail, rebooting, clearing everyone out of the outbox and trying again.
Two Notes:
Incoming mail is working fine on this MacBook.
Outgoing mail is working fine on my IMac, with all the same settings, internet connection etc.
Tried using a different internet connection and experienced the same thing.
I'm really good at this stuff, but I am completely stumped on this one.
Any ideas?
Steve

Answer 1

It's been almost three years since I bought and set up my most recent Mac but if I recall correctly .....
When you initially set up your Mac, you were offered the opportunity to snap a photo of yourself in order to associate your photo with your user account on the computer. If you declined the photo I think the Mac will pick or suggest a picture from the preinstalled selections in the accounts pane of the system preferences. You can change the picture but you cannot delete it totally. That picture is part of your ID for that user account on the Mac.
If you want to change it, Open System Preferences and click on accounts. Click on your account to change the picture. You will have to unlock the preference in the bottom left corner - and to do that - you need to enter your password. Click on the picture of the Eagle and then all of the preinstalled photo choices pop up in another window. Select another photo and then clcik the lock icon again when you are done.