.Mac outages, problems accessing email

Several users are once again reporting long lapses in accessibility to Apple's .Mac services over the past few days, particularly with sending and receiving mail.

As previously reported during the last round of widespread outages, the mail problems may manifest as a rejected password. In addition, the problems may only appear when attempting to access .Mac e-mail with a mail client like Mail.app. As such, if you cannot access your mail in a client, you may want to try using .Mac's Webmail interface.

MacFIxIt Reader Steve Leebove writes:

"Earlier today, you couldn't even hit the page, you would get a server error.  At least sometimes you can get on...but mostly not.  All email has been hauled for hours, several clients have called me to confirm/complain."

MacFixIt reader Pete Walker adds:

"Suddenly, I can not access .mac mail from Apple Mail (Version 2.1.1 (752.3)). For quite a few years I have been using Apple Mail to access my .mac email. As of last Friday, Mail stopped working.

"I can still access my .mac mail through the .mac web browser and I can still access it through SnapperMail on my Palm Treo 680. But, when I open Apple Mail on my MacBook, it does not do anything, just sits there. After a few minutes, the error triangle appears next to the Inbox and .Mac logos on the left hand panel. I have tried Apple Mail from several locations (different ISP / WiFi / LAN) over several days but get the same problem."

If you are having issues sending mail through .Mac servers, try modifying your account settings via the following instructions for Mail.app:

1. Go to Mail.app's preferences (under the "Edit" menu)
2. Click on the Accounts pane
3. Select your .Mac account from the list at left
4. Click on the "Account Information" tab
5. Next to  "Outgoing Mail Server" click "Server settings"
6. Next to "Authentication" pick "Password)
7. Make sure that your .Mac username (just the username, not the @mac.com portion) and password are correctly entered
8. For "Server port" enter 587

For more potential .Mac connectivity solutions, see this article.

If you are experiencing similar issues, please let us know.

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