Mail sometimes seems to hang up while sending mail

[moveright]

I noticed that half the time when I send mail using the built in email client to osx lion, sometimes it hangs on the sending. I see the message in outbox and the little circle animation just turns and turns. the entire time I am typing this, I just checked back and it is still turning.

I'm using iCloud with a me.com email address and standard account settings. ok, just checked and it finally went through.

Is there some setting which optimizes which servers to use, or is there some special smtp server I should be using?

Any insight?

 

[moveright]

No one is experiencing this?

 

[LaWally]

Not me. Check your iCloud Mail account settings ... are you using iCloud as the SMTP server? Is use only this server checked?

 

[moveright]

Not me. Check your iCloud Mail account settings ... are you using iCloud as the SMTP server? Is use only this server checked?

I have that selected and yes, "use only this server" is checked.

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I have that selected and yes, "use only this server" is checked.

I just sent an and as we speak, the wheel is turning. funny there is nothing in the mail activity box at the bottom of the screen.

still spinning.

 

[LaWally]

I just sent a message with no message text to my own iCould account and it took about 4 seconds to send. How long does it take yours to get sent?

Is this a new problem? When did you first notice it? Apply any updates recently?

How fast is your Internet connection?

Also, do you see anything in the system log file that might help?

 

[moveright]

I just sent a message with no message text to my own iCould account and it took about 4 seconds to send. How long does it take yours to get sent?

Is this a new problem? When did you first notice it? Apply any updates recently?

How fast is your Internet connection?

Also, do you see anything in the system log file that might help?

Not sure where the log file is stored. It has been taking about 1 minute or so to send. sometimes a but longer. MY internet is 15/5 FiOS, not amazing but definitely sufficient to send and receive text emails on an instantaneous timeframe.

I've just begun using this as my main mail a few days ago so I can't say it's a new problem or that it just started.

 

[LaWally]

Do you notice anything funky going on in Activity monitor either for the mail program or the network?

If you open a terminal window you can view the most recent entries in the system log via:

tail -f /var/logs/system.log

 

[moveright]

Do you notice anything funky going on in Activity monitor either for the mail program or the network?

If you open a terminal window you can view the most recent entries in the system log via:

tail -f /var/logs/system.log

That gives me no such file or directory.

off topic: where's the best place for someone like me to learn the backend and terminal side of OS? I'm very friendly with linux but I must admit, as similar as OS is, it's also very dissimilar.

 

[LaWally]

That gives me no such file or directory.

off topic: where's the best place for someone like me to learn the backend and terminal side of OS? I'm very friendly with linux but I must admit, as similar as OS is, it's also very dissimilar.

My bad. log should be singular as in:
tail -f /var/log/system.log

 

[moveright]

My bad. log should be singular as in:
tail -f /var/log/system.log

I'll keep a close eye on the log during my mail activity. I'll get back to you. thanks!

 

[LaWally]

off topic: where's the best place for someone like me to learn the backend and terminal side of OS? I'm very friendly with linux but I must admit, as similar as OS is, it's also very dissimilar.

Good question. As an AiX/HPUX/Linux guy myself, I just started poking around in the filesystem. I knew the terminal commands, but like you I wanted to learn what's going on beneath the surface.

I don't know if there are any good learning aides on the net for this or not. I'll search later tonight and let you know if I find anything useful.

 

[moveright]

Good question. As an AiX/HPUX/Linux guy myself, I just started poking around in the filesystem. I knew the terminal commands, but like you I wanted to learn what's going on beneath the surface.

I don't know if there are any good learning aides on the net for this or not. I'll search later tonight and let you know if I find anything useful.

ok, mail is hanging up right now. here's the tail of my log:

mba13:~ moveright$ tail -f /var/log/system.log
May 25 06:13:25 mba13 [0x0-0x4b04b].com.apple.mail[575]: com.apple.Dataclass.DeviceLocator
May 25 06:13:25 mba13 [0x0-0x4b04b].com.apple.mail[575]: com.apple.Dataclass.Mail
May 25 06:13:25 mba13 [0x0-0x4b04b].com.apple.mail[575]: com.apple.Da
May 25 06:13:25 mba13 [0x0-0x4b04b].com.apple.mail[575]: taclass.Ubiquity
May 25 06:29:00 mba13 AddressBookSourceSync[581]: ServerNotifications: Setting delegate to APSD
May 25 06:29:00 mba13 AddressBookSourceSync[581]: Subscription request completed
May 25 06:29:25 mba13 [0x0-0x4e04e].com.googlecode.iterm2[591]: objc[591]: Class GrowlApplicationBridge is implemented in both /Applications/iTerm.app/Contents/MacOS/../Frameworks/Growl.framework/Versions/A/Growl and /Applications/iTerm.app/Contents/Frameworks/Growl.framework/Growl. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.
May 25 06:29:25 mba13 [0x0-0x4e04e].com.googlecode.iterm2[591]: objc[591]: Class GrowlDelegate is implemented in both /Applications/iTerm.app/Contents/MacOS/../Frameworks/Growl.framework/Versions/A/Growl and /Applications/iTerm.app/Contents/Frameworks/Growl.framework/Growl. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.
May 25 06:29:25 mba13 [0x0-0x4e04e].com.googlecode.iterm2[591]: objc[591]: Class GrowlPathUtilities is implemented in both /Applications/iTerm.app/Contents/MacOS/../Frameworks/Growl.framework/Versions/A/Growl and /Applications/iTerm.app/Contents/Frameworks/Growl.framework/Growl. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.
May 25 06:29:25 mba13 login[594]: USER_PROCESS: 594 ttys000
May 25 06:30:02 mba13 iTerm[591]: Components for \S+ are (
	    GrowlApplicationBridge
	)

took about 30 seconds to send that time.

And another interesting thing is that while the circle is spinning and it appears to be "sending" the email, there is nothing in the mail activity window.

 

[LaWally]

And another interesting thing is that while the circle is spinning and it appears to be "sending" the email, there is nothing in the mail activity window.

My guess is that when the beach ball is spinning Mail is waiting for some process to finish or some system or network resource to become available.

Is iCloud the only Mail account you have defined?

Do you see anything in Activity Monitor that looks strange when the beach ball is spinning?

 

[moveright]

My guess is that when the beach ball is spinning Mail is waiting for some process to finish or some system or network resource to become available.

Is iCloud the only Mail account you have defined?

Do you see anything in Activity Monitor that looks strange when the beach ball is spinning?

you mean mailbox activity? The box in the lower left of the mail program or do you mean the system-wide activity monitor in utilities?

Yes, iCloud is the only mailbox I have set up.

 

[LaWally]

you mean mailbox activity? The box in the lower left of the mail program or do you mean the system-wide activity monitor in utilities?

Yes, iCloud is the only mailbox I have set up.

The latter. The Activity Monitor utility.

What did you used to use for Mail?

 

[andiwm2003]

that happens to me quite often as well. the mails get sent eventually however it takes forever. Internet connection is good because I can go to youtube and stream movies with no problem.

I'm not sure if this is a problem with the mail app or with iCloud. I had similar issues with mobileme but that doesn't proof anything.

 

[moveright]

The latter. The Activity Monitor utility.

What did you used to use for Mail?

I used to use webmail. hotmail or gmail. I'm not at my mac now but I will check out the activity monitor tonight and report back.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I have this odd issue with my 1&1 mail, which is linked to Mail.app for sending emails. It hangs consistently, 100% of the time, on the "contacting server" step. Eventually, it does go through, but not before waiting 3 minutes - it seems that something is timing out, retrying, and succeeding the second time... but I have no idea what.