iCloud not sending e-mail from desktop

I am new to MacBooks having had this for a week now. So please bare with me if this seems trivial!

I have tried sending e-mails from my @me.com address from the mail icon on my Macbook pro desktop but the message sits in my outbox for a while before showing the message

"Cannot send messages using the server iCloud - Connections to the server “p09-smtp.mail.me.com” on the default ports timed out. Select a different outgoing mail server from the list below or click Try Later to leave the message in your Outbox until it can be sent."

Now I am receiving e-mails fine at this address and if I log into iCloud.com and send an e-mail from there it works fine, but not when I try doing it from the mail on my desktop.

Does anyone have any ideas what the problem could be? I would very much appreciate your help!

Can anyone help at all? Seriously driving me insane!

TofSanity said:

just reset all passwords and now i am receiving and able to send/reply emails from my iMac

Click to expand...

I tried resetting my password on my macbook pro by going to preferences, selecting the account and then deleting the password and typing a new one. Then I click save and I get a message saying that the Incoming mail server field can not be changed. I didn't even touch that field!

Have tried changing my password on my iPhone too for iCloud and it accepts it but then when I look back there doesn't seem to be as many characters in my password space as my password has? I find that strange!

But still mail is not sending!