Problems downloading email in Thunderbird

[COBI]

Bought a new laptop with Windows 7 and decided not to purchase MS Outlook. Downloaded and installed Thunderbird. Seems to work just fine, except for one thing: When downloading emails, it tends to download just a few emails (anywhere from <1 to 60-some) and then hang. It loses communication with the email server, and I have to wait for a timeout error message before I can try again.

I've queried the Thunderbird forum over at Mozilla, but so far have received no responses. Can anyone here tell me how to set things up so it downloads ALL emails at one shot? This is not a showstopper, just a major annoyance.

Appreciate any help anyone can offer.

Chuck Beck

[bigaldoc]

Bought a new laptop with Windows 7 and decided not to purchase MS Outlook. Downloaded and installed Thunderbird. Seems to work just fine, except for one thing: When downloading emails, it tends to download just a few emails (anywhere from <1 to 60-some) and then hang. It loses communication with the email server, and I have to wait for a timeout error message before I can try again.

I've not had this problem since I NEVER get more than 10 or 15 emails at a shot. The first thing I would ask you to check is the port number you're using in the TB Server Settings. For some un-remembered reason, I have port 110 set for some of my email accounts and porrt 995 for others. I can't recall how or why it was recommended that I do so.

[jockmullin]

Hi Chuck

Haven't seen this problem either, but also I have a high speed connection and never receive more than about 30 emails.
How are you connecting to the internet? Is your download speed consistent or do you get traffic in fits and starts?

One thing I have found that may cause this is if it takes longer to download the emails than the interval for checking for new mail. I have seen Outlook start another receive task before the previous one completes,which can sometimes cause a disconnect. I have not had this problem with Thunderbird, but I have my interval much longer than the download time.

POP3 port of 995 is used for email under SSL, such as with gmail. If you had it wrong I don't think it would work at all.

Jock

[COBI]

I've not had this problem since I NEVER get more than 10 or 15 emails at a shot. The first thing I would ask you to check is the port number you're using in the TB Server Settings. For some un-remembered reason, I have port 110 set for some of my email accounts and porrt 995 for others. I can't recall how or why it was recommended that I do so.

Hi Chuck

Haven't seen this problem either, but also I have a high speed connection and never receive more than about 30 emails.
How are you connecting to the internet? Is your download speed consistent or do you get traffic in fits and starts?

One thing I have found that may cause this is if it takes longer to download the emails than the interval for checking for new mail. I have seen Outlook start another receive task before the previous one completes,which can sometimes cause a disconnect. I have not had this problem with Thunderbird, but I have my interval much longer than the download time.

POP3 port of 995 is used for email under SSL, such as with gmail. If you had it wrong I don't think it would work at all.

Jock

Thanks, guys. Maybe a little more info will help:

• We're using a cable (hi-speed) connection that does not seem to time out with other programs/requests.
• Downloads are usually consistent.

I can check port numbers and see if that helps. But we do get email, just that it always seems to be in fits and starts, and I cannot figure out why. It is not always the same number we download successfully before things hang on us. Nor is the size of a download apparently a factor. We've had it hang with large emails and small ones. We've had it hang before even one downloads successfully or not until 60 or more have downloaded successfully and download is complete. There simply does not seem to be a pattern that I can detect.

The interval for checking new emails sounds like a promising avenue of research. I think I will check that too.

FWIW, the email account is actually my wife's. She is very inconsistent about checking email, so she often has dozens of emails ready to download before she gets around to it.

Thanks again for the help,
Chuck

[bigaldoc]

I can check port numbers and see if that helps. But we do get email, just that it always seems to be in fits and starts,

The fits and starts thing is kinda what happened to me. Sometimes I could get emails OK and other times, it would timeout, say it couldn't connect or some other message. My ISP had me change ports from 110 to 995 and I've never had a problem since then.