Snow Leopard Mail 4.5 cannot connect to iCloud e-mail

Question

As of an hour ago, the official word that I received from MobileMe support is that iCloud e-mail cannot be accessed from Mail 4.5 / OS 10.6.
I've followed the instructions from Apple (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4864) as well as Wilmut (http://www.wilmut.webspace.virginmedia.com/notes/icloudmail.html) to no avail.
Even tried many other variations to no effect.
Does anyone have a known solution?
Any and all help is much appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
Selected excerpts from my Chat with Apple support:
Chat Support
10:17 p.m. on Thursday, April 19, 2012
Duration: 00:25:25
Customer [10:26 p.m.]:
I'm not interested in making full use of iCloud's capabilities from my Mac at this time. I just want to be
able to access my e-mail account from my Mac and not be forced to relay on the web or phone to do so.
Advisor [10:27 p.m.]:
Yes I realize this and even for mail you need Lion.
Customer [10:29 p.m.]:
From Apple's own kb - Note: If you are using Mail on a Mac (OS X v10.7.2 or later), the Mail app on an iOS
device (iOS 5.0.1 or later), or Microsoft Outlook 2007 or 2010 on a Windows PC, follow these instructions
for automated iCloud Mail setup. If you are not using one of these email clients, you can use the
information below to set up your iCloud Mail account manually.
Advisor [10:30 p.m.]:
Yes that no longer works as you can see.
Customer [10:30 p.m.]:
Then why is that information still up on the web?
Customer [10:33 p.m.]:
kb says - Last Modified: March 15, 2012
Advisor [10:33 p.m.]:
I can not answer why it has not been removed but I can make our engineers aware of this.

Answer 1

Hi Zak,
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.