cannot open emails put in trash

Hi Folks----I need help! I have a MAC OSX vers 10.2.8 system. I use the email supplied with operating system(mail 1.2.5 (v553)copyright 2002 Apple).

Suddenly for reasons unknown to me I am having a problem with the "TRASH" area of the email(or maybe the Delete button).

It happens after reading a message in the IN box and using the Delete button to move it to the TRASH box. Once messages are in the TRASH, all the message titles are listed but when I click on a message title, the message will not come up, the message area below remains blank. All old items in trash and new items put into trash will not open when the title is clicked onto.

(Sometimes this problem will also occur in the "IN box area and other mailboxes" but only after I have fooled around in the TRASH area for a while). To fix it I have to either close the mail and reopen or force quit when a never ending cookie icon comes up. After the quit and reopen, all the other mailboxes will work properly again, except TRASH.

Sometimes it seems like the delete button is not functioning properly(it will delete, but the deleted items will not make it into the TRASH and when I reopen "IN" mail the deleted items will appear back in the IN box so I will have to try to delete again).

At the Accounts section of Preferences under special mailboxes, the trash button is checked and "NEVER" is selected for erasing deleted messages.

I am not really MAC smart and do not know how to fix this problem. Thanks for any help!

 

Thanks for the reply but there is no "com.apple.mail.plist" file when I go into the library/preferences (there are other similar files but nothing refering to mail).

My internet provider is verizon dsl.

The real problem seems to be with the "Delete" button in the mail where things appear to delete from the IN box but do not make it into trash and I when I go back into the In box they are there again. I have to try to delete each mail several times to finally get it to delete. When an email finally makes it into the trash, and I click on it to read it again, there is no message anymore.