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Thunderbird email server timeout

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by bstapp

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Since the latest version of Thunderbird came out I have been getting random error messages that the email server connection is timing out. This is happening with our work email server hosted by JustHost and on my personal computer and account @bellsouth.net (AT&T/Yahoo). These have not been showing up on the earlier version of Thunderbird. My phone and tablet are not giving me any error messages (email app that is on the Samsung phones connected to the Bellsouth account). If it were just at work I would suspect our hosting service but I see it at home also. So far it is not causing any big issues other than occasional delays in sending and receiving mail. Any ideas or suggestions?

Since the latest version of Thunderbird came out I have been getting random error messages that the email server connection is timing out. This is happening with our work email server hosted by JustHost and on my personal computer and account @bellsouth.net (AT&T/Yahoo). These have not been showing up on the earlier version of Thunderbird. My phone and tablet are not giving me any error messages (email app that is on the Samsung phones connected to the Bellsouth account). If it were just at work I would suspect our hosting service but I see it at home also. So far it is not causing any big issues other than occasional delays in sending and receiving mail. Any ideas or suggestions?

All Replies (4)

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I have noticed delays when sending mails after using "Send" button, but not always.

Today, after sending a new mail, I have got an error message after a big delay (sorry, I failed to take note of the error), and I had to resend it again, this time without problem.

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That is not my problem. My problem is random and shows up with no activity or while I am composing emails. I suspect that it is happening when the program checks for emails and is not sending everything in a timely manner or not sending something the server is expecting so the server is timing out waiting for the response. I also seem to be getting multiple copies of the email on my work computer randomly but not every time. Again this is new since the latest upgrade.

Work computer is running Windows 7 32 bit and my home computer is running Windows 11 with the latest updates as of the last Tuesday updates. As both computers are seeing the same issue I don't think it is Windows 7 related. With two totally different email servers I don't think it is server related.

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Does it happen mainly when sending a message to multiple recipients? (vs a single recipient)

Does it happen less in Windows safe mode? https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/advanced-startup-options-including-safe-mode-b90e7808-80b5-a291-d4b8-1a1af602b617#start-computer-safe-mode=windows-7

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The problem seemed to happen when the client checked for email which I have set to every 10 minutes or when I am composing or sending emails. This does not happen very often 2 or 3 time a day when it was acting up. The past week I have not seen or noticed the issue so either the computer fairy waved it magic wand :) , the servers got a patch that fixed their end, or I got an update that I did not notice to fix the issue. I have not tested it in safe mode and would be hard to test if the issue has subsided like this past week.

When it was acting up I was also getting error messages saying that Thunderbird was having problems saving draft messages, could not find the directory. It would save the draft locally though. I suspect that it was having issues saving it on the server side. I would end up having to delete the drafts after I sent the emails. This seems to have also quit acting up this past week. Thunderbird seems to be acting normal now at least on my Windows 7 machine.

Anyway with the issue more or less gone for now you can close it but I can not say that it has been truly fixed. Thank you for your help. Reuben Stapp Design Engineer MFJ Enterprises, Inc.