'Hardware problem' causes partial outage for Yahoo Mail

Looks like more trouble for Yahoo Mail.

The e-mail service, which has drawn the ire of many users since its October revamp, is experiencing a partial outage that some say has lasted nearly two days.

In a blog post addressing the issue, Jeff Bonforte, senior vice president for Yahoo's communication products, said it's related to a "hardware problem" at one of the company's mail data centers, and that some users lost access around 10:30 p.m. PT Monday night. He said those affected would be able to access their inboxes again by 3 p.m. PT. "The issue has been harder to fix than we originally expected," Bonforte wrote. "We have dozens of people working around the clock to bring it to a resolution."

He also added on his Twitter account, in response to an angry user, "Indeed, the outage on this mail cluster has been awful."

@schmoopie1976 @yahoocare Indeed, the outage on this mail cluster has been awful. More here http://t.co/LRtaAqBxVn

— Jeff Bonforte (@bonforte) December 11, 2013

Bonforte seems to be genuinely forthcoming when he says the situation has been harder to fix than expected. The company had initially promised to restore the service by 1:30 p.m. PT on Tuesday, but pushed back the timeline to 3 p.m. Wednesday.

This is just another problem for the recently refreshed e-mail service. Some users howled over the interface overhaul, which brings the design closer to that of Google's Gmail. They inundated Yahoo's mail blog with demands to bring back lost features, and even created a Change.org petition asking for the old layout back.

Update, 3:57 p.m. PT: Yahoo's self-imposed deadline of 3 p.m. has come and gone, and the company says a small percentage of users are still without service.

A small % of our users can't access their Yahoo Mail accts. We will continue to work hard to fix & provide an update at 5pm PST.

— YMail Team (@yahoomail) December 11, 2013