[barnachris]

For some reason, my mail program (standard OSX version 2.0.5) gets cranky and asks me for the password every 15 minutes (automatically checking). I have a pop account at Yahoo, but it goes for months without any problem, then suddenly it says the password was rejected and I have to enter it manually every time. It doesn't seem to be a problem at Yahoo, as the password works fine when entered manually -- and I've had the same problem with other pop accounts that weren't with Yahoo. I've gone into account set up and re-entered the password, but this doesn't solve the problem. Does anyone know if this is a known issue? Thanks.
CPR

[Skybolt]

Have you changed the frequency that your mail "gets" mail? I did that once, shortening the time to, I think, one minute intervals. That caused the behavior you are describing. When I changed it back to 5 minutes, the problem went away. Maybe this would help you?

[barnachris]

Thanks for responding. Yes, I change the frequency regularly, depending on whether or not I'm downloading something. I'll try leaving it at 5 minute intervals and see if that helps -- though I don't know why such a bug should still be in the program after so long.
CPR

[MacCheetah3]

Hi
I've never heard of an actual bug of this behavior. To me, it sounds much like their end, albeit temporary ( at times ). I say this from experience. It isn't a good comparison to say that things work fine using their webmail ( logging in from their web site ) as that uses a different method, ... to manage the same account. You can also tell since it happens continuously over a period of time ( everytime it checks within a cetain timeframe ). It's downtimes, it happens.
P.S. The reason the less frequent checking works is because some set the mail servers to only allow so many checks in a certain timeframe to lessen performance hits.

[d00d]

Basically, this is not a Mail.app failure, it's a failure in your mail server. Some POP email servers like to restrict users from logging in too often. For a system with many users, frequent logging in and email checking can cause undue stress on the system. Hence, they attempt to curb this problem by failing the login for a user until they feel sufficient time has elapsed.
If sufficient time hasn't elapsed, the login process fails. There aren't specific types of login failure. Rather, there is a general failure and a description message that is free form to describe why. When Mail detects a login failure, it assumes that the password was incorrect (as that's most commonly the problem). Without guessing based upon the description (for which there is no standard set for parsing), there is no way for Apple to know whether it was a wrong password or your mail server being cranky.

[barnachris]

Thanks for the information. Much appreciated.
CPR