"New mail" sound happens when there is no new mail

smithrh

macrumors 68030

Original poster

• Oct 10, 2012

• #1

Did a search, didn't find anything promising...

So, every once in a while, say, less than once a day, I hear the new mail sound from my iMac running 10.8.2.

However, there's no new mail. Not even new spam.

Anyone else run into this?

 

S

saidtezel

macrumors member

• Oct 10, 2012

• #2

Does it, by any chance, happen when you plug in/out headphones? Because in that case I've got a similar problem

 

smithrh

macrumors 68030

Original poster

• Oct 10, 2012

• #3

No - although I've experienced that problem as well.

This is different.

It just happened again. Annoying and puzzling at the same time.

 

dcorban

macrumors 6502a

• Oct 11, 2012

• #4

I'd check to see what sounds other apps you run may be making. It's trivial for another app to use the same "new mail" sound effect.

 

smithrh

macrumors 68030

Original poster

• Oct 11, 2012

• #5

Oh believe me, I've been hunting around.

Console logs, apps running, you name it.

I do need to be less Pavlovian in my response to this, but a few times I've been waiting on a critical email, hear the 'bing,' think "a-ha, it's here" and nada.

 

wnorris

macrumors member

• Oct 11, 2012

• #6

Noises w/ headphones

saidtezel said:

Does it, by any chance, happen when you plug in/out headphones? Because in that case I've got a similar problem

Click to expand...

Glad others are having this issue. I use headphones for a call every Wednesday and have approximately 2 minutes worth of noises that accumulate and all sound off once I plug in the headphones. Strange issue...

 

smithrh

macrumors 68030

Original poster

• Oct 11, 2012

• #7

I switched my incoming mail sound to something different. We'll see if the phantom bings continue...

wnorris said:

Glad others are having this issue. I use headphones for a call every Wednesday and have approximately 2 minutes worth of noises that accumulate and all sound off once I plug in the headphones. Strange issue...

Click to expand...

This has been going on since 10.8.0 - at least for me. Now I have the habit of switching audio devices every once in a while to drain the sound queue.

 

smithrh

macrumors 68030

Original poster

• Oct 17, 2012

• #8

Update - it happened again just now.

I had changed my notification sound to something new, and that new sound was just played with absolutely no new email.

No drafts, no spam, no nothin'.

Annoying....

 

R

ratfink

macrumors member

• Oct 17, 2012

• #9

I've had this problem since well before Lion. I had assumed it was because I use Google Apps / IMAP and my mailbox can be absolutely huge when you include spam. What I think is happening is not that I get a "phantom" sound but rather that the notification is delayed by several minutes. I often get no audible notification when new mail arrives.

 

Koodauw

macrumors 68040

• Oct 17, 2012

• #10

wnorris said:

Glad others are having this issue. I use headphones for a call every Wednesday and have approximately 2 minutes worth of noises that accumulate and all sound off once I plug in the headphones. Strange issue...

Click to expand...

Not to hijack but I have this issue as well. I usually just quit mail and open it again. Seems to solve the problem.