Apple Mail: Won't Send Messages

[Mr. Monsieur]

Hey folks!

So...I've been dealing with this issue for the past week, but haven't managed to find any solutions. I went through Apple's directions for fixing the problem:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3276

but this didn't fix it. There is no indication why this happened, it didn't happen after an update, or something like that. I'm receiving message just fine, but I'm unable to send them.

This is probably unrelated, but I've also been having issues with Flash...I'm essentially unable to watch anything on YouTube. I tried re-installing Flash, and while the DMG file is still open, YouTube worked for a minute or two (but has stopped working since). Again, probably unrelated...to be honest, though, I'm wondering if I have a virus? These are both pretty big issues.

 

[GGJstudios]

Again, probably unrelated...to be honest, though, I'm wondering if I have a virus?

I can eliminate one concern for you. It's not a virus. No viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any, since it was released 10 years ago. The handful of trojans that exist can be easily avoided with some basic education, common sense and care in what software you install:

Mac Virus/Malware Info​

 

[JediMeister]

Who is your email provider? You can check if Apple has settings for the provider @ www.apple.com/support/macosx/mailassistant and replace your current outgoing settings with the ones from the site and try sending a new message. Also make sure that your outbox is empty before sending additional emails.

 

[Mr. Monsieur]

Thanks...but still a problem!

I can eliminate one concern for you. It's not a virus.

Excellent...well...I was pretty sure it wasn't...it's just that while bizarre things occasionally happen on my mac, it's not often that multiple things happen at the same time. This, coupled with the story a friend of mine mentioned to me last week about the recent discovery of the first Apple virus (I didn't really believe it, and have still not found any confirmation for it).

Who is your email provider? You can check if Apple has settings for the provider @ www.apple.com/support/macosx/mailassistant and replace your current outgoing settings with the ones from the site and try sending a new message. Also make sure that your outbox is empty before sending additional emails.

Fastmail...Thanks for the link...I had actually gone through that a few days ago, to no avail. The last page of troubleshooting guide looks quite different than mine, however...I don't know why, or if it makes a difference...Argh!

 

[GGJstudios]

This, coupled with the story a friend of mine mentioned to me last week about the recent discovery of the first Apple virus (I didn't really believe it, and have still not found any confirmation for it).

There have been viruses for Mac OS in the past, just not for Mac OS X. In fact, the very first virus in the wild was for Apple computers. However, if the claim was for a recent discovery of a Mac virus, it's false.

 

[BugHunter]

Maybe DNS

This is a long shot, but do you have Mail hooked up to Gmail?
I (and a few others) who did that could receive mail fine, but it would take up to 25 minutes to send mail.
After changing my DNS to the values provided by OpenDNS it worked in an instant.
Can't hurt to try.

 

[JediMeister]

Found the settings on Fastmail's website. For sending issues, look at the SMTP section and make sure your settings are a match: http://www.fastmail.fm/help/remote_email_access_server_names_and_ports.html

For ease of access, re-posting particulars from their site:
SMTP

Note: "Guest" accounts do NOT have SMTP access. Use ISP's SMTP server instead or upgrade

Server: mail.messagingengine.com
Port: 587 (preferred) or 25 or 26 including STARTTLS support (or SSL SMTP port 465)
Authentication: PLAIN (Our SMTP ports are for authenticated SMTP only; you'll need to make sure your software supports authenticated SMTP and also set up a username and password)
Username: your FastMail.FM username/login name/email address (must include @fastmail.fm part)
Password: your FastMail.FM password

 

[Mr. Monsieur]

Thank you!

GGJstudios, JediMeister, BugHunter...thanks so much! As it turns out...it seems that it might have had something to do with Little Snitch...argh...fixed now. Thanks again for all of your assistance!