Hi everyone,
Long time lurker, first time poster! I've been an admirer of Mac OS X for several years now after experiencing it for the first time on a friend's iMac. In April of this year, I finally took the plunge and ditched my slow, decrepit old Windows PC for a shiny new Macbook Pro (15", 2.5Ghz model), and I absolutely love it! It's far and away the best computer I've ever owned, and I'm glad to be free of Microsoft's grip (although I do have XP installed under Boot Camp for gaming purposes).
I've noticed, though, that I seem to be having problems with my network connection not being recognised by certain applications.
When I first got my MBP, I tried to set up Mail.app with my POP3 email account details, but always got an error message telling me that it didn't work. I thought this was a little odd, since I'd copied the configuration options directly from my iPhone (on which it works perfectly). I didn't really give it much thought, however, since I rarely use that particular email account any more.
More recently, I tried downoading MSN Messenger for Mac, and was confronted with another problem -- every time I try to sign in, I get a message telling me that "the service may not be available or you may not be connected to the internet". I then tried connecting to my account using Adium, but I still couldn't connect -- UNLESS I used the "Connect via HTTP" option, which seemed to solve the problem.
Just yesterday, however, I downloaded the World of Warcraft free trial for OS X, and was surprised to discover that I was completely unable to connect - I'd put my username and password in on the login screen, and it would just sit there with the word "connecting" up on the screen for ages before giving me a "could not connect" error message.
This is when I finally made the connection that these problems must all be connected somehow. Now, the first thing that occured to me is that it was probably a firewall issue -- except my OS X firewall isn't even turned on. I still have everything set to "Allow all incoming connections".
I am NOT using any kind of router or hardware firewall, nor am I connected via a wi-fi network -- I just have my cable modem plugged directly into my Macbook Pro's ethernet port, which is why I'm rather confused as to why some apps work and others don't. Safari, Firefox, Apple Update, Transmission, iTunes and most of my applications work perfectly, but for some reason I can't get email (through either Mail.app or Thunderbird), connect to MSN, or play WoW.
Before anyone suggests that it's my ISP who are blocking certain ports or whatever, bear in mind that:
a) I have these problems whether I'm on my home internet connection, or hooked up to my corporate network at work, and
b) I've tried using the Windows equivalents of all the apps in question under Boot Camp, and they all work perfectly well - I can play WoW, use MSN Messenger, and recieve my POP3 emails in Outlook Express while I'm running XP. As far as I'm aware, both the Windows and OS X versions use the same ports, so I very much doubt that my connection itself is an issue.
All of which leads us back to the likelihood of a firewall issue -- even though I don't even have the bloody thing turned on.
Does anyone have any idea what could be going on here? It's driving me insane!
Any suggestions or advice would be VERY gratefully received.
Thanks
Long time lurker, first time poster! I've been an admirer of Mac OS X for several years now after experiencing it for the first time on a friend's iMac. In April of this year, I finally took the plunge and ditched my slow, decrepit old Windows PC for a shiny new Macbook Pro (15", 2.5Ghz model), and I absolutely love it! It's far and away the best computer I've ever owned, and I'm glad to be free of Microsoft's grip (although I do have XP installed under Boot Camp for gaming purposes).
I've noticed, though, that I seem to be having problems with my network connection not being recognised by certain applications.
When I first got my MBP, I tried to set up Mail.app with my POP3 email account details, but always got an error message telling me that it didn't work. I thought this was a little odd, since I'd copied the configuration options directly from my iPhone (on which it works perfectly). I didn't really give it much thought, however, since I rarely use that particular email account any more.
More recently, I tried downoading MSN Messenger for Mac, and was confronted with another problem -- every time I try to sign in, I get a message telling me that "the service may not be available or you may not be connected to the internet". I then tried connecting to my account using Adium, but I still couldn't connect -- UNLESS I used the "Connect via HTTP" option, which seemed to solve the problem.
Just yesterday, however, I downloaded the World of Warcraft free trial for OS X, and was surprised to discover that I was completely unable to connect - I'd put my username and password in on the login screen, and it would just sit there with the word "connecting" up on the screen for ages before giving me a "could not connect" error message.
This is when I finally made the connection that these problems must all be connected somehow. Now, the first thing that occured to me is that it was probably a firewall issue -- except my OS X firewall isn't even turned on. I still have everything set to "Allow all incoming connections".
I am NOT using any kind of router or hardware firewall, nor am I connected via a wi-fi network -- I just have my cable modem plugged directly into my Macbook Pro's ethernet port, which is why I'm rather confused as to why some apps work and others don't. Safari, Firefox, Apple Update, Transmission, iTunes and most of my applications work perfectly, but for some reason I can't get email (through either Mail.app or Thunderbird), connect to MSN, or play WoW.
Before anyone suggests that it's my ISP who are blocking certain ports or whatever, bear in mind that:
a) I have these problems whether I'm on my home internet connection, or hooked up to my corporate network at work, and
b) I've tried using the Windows equivalents of all the apps in question under Boot Camp, and they all work perfectly well - I can play WoW, use MSN Messenger, and recieve my POP3 emails in Outlook Express while I'm running XP. As far as I'm aware, both the Windows and OS X versions use the same ports, so I very much doubt that my connection itself is an issue.
All of which leads us back to the likelihood of a firewall issue -- even though I don't even have the bloody thing turned on.
Does anyone have any idea what could be going on here? It's driving me insane!
Any suggestions or advice would be VERY gratefully received.
Thanks