Big Mac Attack

[ellenkushner]

. . . . And NOT in a GOOD way.

Have returned home from Cleveland to my laptop, to find that on my laptop I am having sudden ghastly trouble with Apple 3.6 Mail: it seems to have updated itself somehow without warning, and now refuses to *send* anything.  As in, the "Send" glyph is dark, and unresponsive, and even the pulldown menu MESSAGE>SEND is greyed out.  I'm receiving just fine.  

I've also got the mail working fine on my iPhone & iPad - I think it did some kind of stealth upgrade when I started with the new iPad last week, since that's when it started making dear little whooshing noises when it sent mail.  But I was having no trouble with it then.  I turned it off Friday, and turned it on this afternoon, and the Mail told me there were exciting new things I could do. (I can now think of a few exciting new things I can think of for it to do . . . but never mind.)

I have OSX 10.5.8.

I am not clever at any of this, so unless you know a quick & obvious fix, please don't leave elaborate suggestions here which I won't understand.  Instead, please Comment here with a time that I can IM or phone you. Thank you.

BONUS POINTS:  So I added some new Apps to the iPad (under my brother Philip's tutelage), and they are all trying automatically to load themselves onto my iPhone without even being asked.  I bet there's a button I can push for that (to make it not happen, I mean).  Isn't there?

Comments

[ckd]

For "don't automatically install apps purchased on other devices", that's under Settings:Store:Automatic Downloads.

As for the mail thing, not sure when I might have time to try poking at it (assuming you'd be okay with me doing it via iChat screen sharing); I'll comment or LJ-message later if I think I'll be available later tonight.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I'll need to be reminded how to iChat, but you're welcome to try. Fastest way to reach me is by emailing me at the edress on my Profile page; I'll check it to see when you might have a moment. It can actually wait a day or so, really, as I'll be in the studio all day & night tomorrow (recording pickups on SWORDSPOINT audiobook) - and I can do mail w/Gmail online, and even with the iPad, so it's not a serious crisis - except in that awful way that knowing a tool you need just Isn't Working and Is Not Reliable.

But you sound like you are Wise in the Ways of Science, so go for it!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

YES!! IT WORKED!!!!!

YOU ARE MY HERO.

Especially as you were wearing your "NO, I WILL NOT FIX YOUR COMPUTER" T-shirt.

Greater love, etc etc. See you at Readercon!

[ckd]

Or WisCon, if you'll be there.

(I don't think I mentioned to you how I got the shirt; my parents sent it to me after I'd fixed a problem Dad was having. :-)

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

Can you be more specific about the part where it seems to have updated itself? It must have, because otherwise it wouldn't be telling you that you can do exciting new things. But I just checked my installation, and I'm running Mail Version 3.6 (936) under 10.5.8. So it seems to me that you must have something different.

If you can find that and post it, I (and others, I'm sure) can poke around and see if we can find information about it. Like, if it's a known bug with a known fix. Otherwise, I don't have a clue even where to start.

ps - just got your email. I assume that's sent from another machine?

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Sent from GMail itself, rather than Mac's Mail. So not a desperate crisis - but more that feeling that one has a broken leg & is getting around on crutches. And I would like this to be Fixed. Have turned whole system on & off just bunches, and that ain't it.

[joecoustic.livejournal.com]

This might be worth a shot (and it'd be great if it were something this simple and easy to fix!).

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1307

Go to where it answers "issue 2".

I'm not a "mac person" but I did make the effort to use them when I was back in school a few years ago to be familiar and I do some troubleshooting on my folks' but I am good at searching for answers so update if you do or don't find an answer and I'll look some more if you still need a solution.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Sounds right! I'll follow up and let you know. Many thanks for finding this for me.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

You Blessed Angel - it worked!!! Thanks to "ckd" above, who came on & walked me through it - I could never have done it myself. But your analysis proved correct for Issue 2. Darned thing had somehow managed to reset itself behind my back. Ha. We proved more than a match for it, did we not!

[joecoustic.livejournal.com]

Yay!!!! I'm so glad it worked!!! And I'm glad you had someone to walk you through it. We rock :).

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Under IMAP protocols, using multiple devices to access the same mail account. (It sounds as though you may be using three items (iPhone, iPad, laptop) to access the same mail account.) Typically this manifests as trouble with receiving mail.

If you used mobile devices to check mail while you are gone, and now you cannot send mail, this means that Mail's connection to the outgoing server isn't working correctly. In the Preferences, under Accounts, tab Account Information, check that your outgoing server and account information is correct, and that you have not done something odd like accidentally uncheck "use only this server" which could lead to confused behavior by Mail.

Your computer will not do stealth updates or upgrades on you. It will always tell you when it is updating software and what it is updating! However, if you have set a new device accessing your mail account, you may have accidentally changed your mail account's response to other devices.

If you can't get this sorted by checking that settings are what they should be, then the simplest thing would really be to take all of your devices to the Apple genius bar and let them doublecheck your software.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Thanks - this makes much sense.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

I am glad it makes sense even though I scrambled part of the first para with careless typing!

It took me a little fiddling and negotiation before I could run three devices off my usual mail account (it sounds like you avoided the usual problems, which tend to be with incoming mail). I can't give you any more reassuringly specific advice without knowing your mailer's hostnames and stuff, which is why I suggest just getting a Genius Bar appointment and going in there with some chocolate and a "Waaaaah! Make work please! On everything!" plea.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that the parts about the apps loading themselves onto the iPhone is part of the new iCloud stuff that Apple has just added. They advertise that as a feature. (Sorry, I don't know how to turn it off, thou I'd hope there is a way.)