Not receiving all email

[DavidD]

Desktop with Vista using Windows Mail, laptop with XP using Outlook Express,
router with wireless connection. Desktop ON, laptop OFF....send/receive
numerous times per day...some messages come in. Evening, desktop OFF, laptop
ON, check messages, and many messages come in, some sent very early in the
day, and throughout the day, but they never came in to Windows Mail. Various
senders, and none of them Junk or Spam, some with attachments, some without,
but all from contacts in both Vista Address Book and WinXP address book.
Some messages from a particular sender will come into Windows Mail, and
others will not. Nothing in "Options" seems to address this. Ideas?

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Desktop with Vista using Windows Mail, laptop with XP using Outlook
Express,
router with wireless connection. Desktop ON, laptop OFF....send/receive
numerous times per day...some messages come in. Evening, desktop OFF,
laptop
ON, check messages, and many messages come in, some sent very early in the
day, and throughout the day, but they never came in to Windows Mail.
Various
senders, and none of them Junk or Spam, some with attachments, some
without,
but all from contacts in both Vista Address Book and WinXP address book.
Some messages from a particular sender will come into Windows Mail, and
others will not. Nothing in "Options" seems to address this. Ideas?

Unless you set mail to remain on the mail server on BOTH computers, you will
get the effect that you have now.

To set this up, go to the ADVANCED tab in mail setup and check boxes as
necessary..

 

[DavidD]

Thanks for the answer Mike, but your suggestion did not solve the problem. I
checked all the correct boxes for 'leave message on server' on both
computers. As a test I opened OE on the XP machine and checked for
messages....there were four. I then turned OFF the XP laptop, and turned on
the Vista machine, ran Windows Mail and only 2 of the 4 messages came in. I
don't see where leaving a copy of the message on the server is the right
solution.

For the sake of argument, when the laptop is OFF, for all intents and
purposes, it doesn't exist as far as the desktop is concerned, therefore,
Windows Mail should download any, and all, new (not previously downloaded)
messages currently on the servers.....correct? What if I didn't even have
the laptop as a 'backup'? I couldn't care less about downloading ALL my
messages to BOTH computers (copies), so I have not, in the past, enabled the
'leave copy on server'. I would just like to receive ALL new messages
currently on the servers on EITHER computer.

Perhaps I didn't explain the problem clearly enough so I'll give you an
example: One day I was awaiting a reply to an important business email.
Working in Windows Mail I checked for messages many times during the day.
(The laptop, and hence, OE, was OFF, and had been since the night before.)
In the late afternoon (4:30 pm) I phoned the contact to inquire about the
reply. He stated that he sent his reply at 10:30 AM. While I had him on the
phone I checked for messages, and there were none. He sent it again. Over
the next 3/4 hour I constantly checked for his message and it never arrived.
I turned OFF the desktop, and 10 minutes later turned On the laptop and ran
OE. Both messages from the contact sent at 10:30am and 4:32pm, (and several
other messages) popped right in. It seems that, at any given time OE will
download any, and all, messages currently on the servers, but at any given
time, Windows Mail will not.

Again, there seems to be no rhyme or reason for Windows Mail to not download
the messages in the above example....they are not junk or spam, they contain
no attachments, and are, if fact, from a contact in my Address Book. One
other point..my old desktop had XP and OE and I never experienced this
problem so I don't think my router is playing games with me.

As a further test I verified that messages were, in fact, ON the servers. I
ran Windows Mail, 2 new messages.....I checked email on my iPhone (which does
leave a copy on the servers unless you delete them), and there were 4
additional new messages waiting for download...Windows Mail could not find
them apparently. I ran Windows Mail again, no new messages. Later in OE,
those 'mssing' 4 messages arrived. Incidently, the 'missing' messages were
from diffenent servers. The thing that is confusing to me is that Windows
Mail works great sending and receiving email, it just won't receive ALL
incomming messages. "Selective downloading" as it were.

I do apologize for being so longwinded, but frankly I'm at my wit's end.
I'm sure it's probably my 'screw up', but I can see no logical reason for
Windows Mail to fail to find and download some messages. I've been through
all the settings and options and see nothing out of the ordinary. What am I
missing? Do my email servers have something against Windows Mail?

Thanks again Mike, I do appreciate the help!

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Sounds very peculiar! In my three years of working with Windows Mail
issues, this is the first I've heard of that particular problem.
Mail tends to be all or nothing, it either works or it doesn't work.

Is it just one particular mail account on the desktop PC that is not
receiving all of the messages? If so, delete that account, restart
Windows Mail, then recreate that account. If no improvement, which
antivirus are you running? Some of them cause problems with
Windows Mail over time.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Thanks for the answer Mike, but your suggestion did not solve the problem.
I
checked all the correct boxes for 'leave message on server' on both
computers. As a test I opened OE on the XP machine and checked for
messages....there were four. I then turned OFF the XP laptop, and turned
on
the Vista machine, ran Windows Mail and only 2 of the 4 messages came in.
I
don't see where leaving a copy of the message on the server is the right
solution.

For the sake of argument, when the laptop is OFF, for all intents and
purposes, it doesn't exist as far as the desktop is concerned, therefore,
Windows Mail should download any, and all, new (not previously downloaded)
messages currently on the servers.....correct? What if I didn't even have
the laptop as a 'backup'? I couldn't care less about downloading ALL my
messages to BOTH computers (copies), so I have not, in the past, enabled
the
'leave copy on server'. I would just like to receive ALL new messages
currently on the servers on EITHER computer.

Perhaps I didn't explain the problem clearly enough so I'll give you an
example: One day I was awaiting a reply to an important business email.
Working in Windows Mail I checked for messages many times during the day.
(The laptop, and hence, OE, was OFF, and had been since the night before.)
In the late afternoon (4:30 pm) I phoned the contact to inquire about the
reply. He stated that he sent his reply at 10:30 AM. While I had him on
the
phone I checked for messages, and there were none. He sent it again.
Over
the next 3/4 hour I constantly checked for his message and it never
arrived.
I turned OFF the desktop, and 10 minutes later turned On the laptop and
ran
OE. Both messages from the contact sent at 10:30am and 4:32pm, (and
several
other messages) popped right in. It seems that, at any given time OE
will
download any, and all, messages currently on the servers, but at any given
time, Windows Mail will not.

Again, there seems to be no rhyme or reason for Windows Mail to not
download
the messages in the above example....they are not junk or spam, they
contain
no attachments, and are, if fact, from a contact in my Address Book. One
other point..my old desktop had XP and OE and I never experienced this
problem so I don't think my router is playing games with me.

As a further test I verified that messages were, in fact, ON the servers.
I
ran Windows Mail, 2 new messages.....I checked email on my iPhone (which
does
leave a copy on the servers unless you delete them), and there were 4
additional new messages waiting for download...Windows Mail could not find
them apparently. I ran Windows Mail again, no new messages. Later in OE,
those 'mssing' 4 messages arrived. Incidently, the 'missing' messages were
from diffenent servers. The thing that is confusing to me is that Windows
Mail works great sending and receiving email, it just won't receive ALL
incomming messages. "Selective downloading" as it were.

I do apologize for being so longwinded, but frankly I'm at my wit's end.
I'm sure it's probably my 'screw up', but I can see no logical reason for
Windows Mail to fail to find and download some messages. I've been
through
all the settings and options and see nothing out of the ordinary. What am
I
missing? Do my email servers have something against Windows Mail?

Thanks again Mike, I do appreciate the help!

You need to leave messages on the ISP server if you want to be able to pick
up mail on multiple machines.

The fact that the mail message made it to one of the computers suggests that
there is not a problem with mail DELIVERY, but there may be a problem with
mail RECEIPT.

Are the two mail clients set at the same level of security?

Was there an attachment which was accepted by OE, but junked by WM?

Have you looked in the Junk folder?

 

[DavidD]

Hi Gary, thanks for the note. I couldn't agree more, VERY peculiar! I've
been using computers since Commodore64 days, and I still couldn't figure this
one out! Then again that shows my age, so this may have been one of those
'senior moments'!

There are 2 mail accounts, with one experiencing the most problems. I
compared all the settings on both accounts on both computers and they matched
exactly on all settings. Same version Norton Internet Security on both
computers.

So decided to go to your Plan B.

You win the prize for the day! I deleted the account that was experiencing
the most problems. Restarted Windows Mail, and recreated the account, and
whatta ya know, 16 messages appeared as if by magic. Don't know why....don't
care why....just happy problem solved!

Thanks! Take the rest of the day off!

 

[Sam Hobbs]

I understand that you have tried everything you can. Have you checked the
message rules? I assume you know what I mean.

There are various web sites we can use to check email online. You could use
one of them for diagnostic purposes and to determine if something important
is available.

I don't know how to use the logs that WinMail creates to diagnose things
like this but perhaps it would help and if so then I hope someone explains
how to do that.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

You're very welcome, David.
Glad to hear that my 'stab in the dark' suggestion turned out to be the
correct fix. Incidentally, Norton security software has a history of
corrupting accounts in Microsoft mail programs. As a minimum,
Norton's scanning of emails should be disabled. See
http://thundercloud.net/infoave/tutorials/email-scanning/index.htm