357045 - connection to IMAP server fails without error

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: General, defect)

Description

[Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez]]

Thunderbird 2.0 nightlies regularly get into a state in which they fail to connect to my IMAP server at pair.com, but they don't display an error message.  Rather, the status bar shows "Connecting to <server name>...", then after a few moments the message changes to "Connected to <server name>...", and then that message disappears and nothing happens.

(Occasionally I've also seen "Looking up <server name>..." or "Loading message..." flash by before the "Connecting" message.)

These messages appear every time I click a folder or a message.  When I click a folder, the folder opens, but the message list doesn't get updated; Thunderbird displays the one it generated the last time it connected to the server successfully.  When I click a message, the message page stays blank.

The failure state persists across a restart of Thunderbird 2.0.  It's unclear what triggers the application to start failing to connect or what triggers it to successfully connect again.  However, connecting to the server always works in Thunderbird 1.5, and connecting via Thunderbird 1.5 seems to fix the problem for 2.0 as well.  If I quit 2.0 and run 1.5, then I quit 1.5 and run 2.0, the problem goes away.

The problem does not occur with my other IMAP account.

Comment 1

[David :Bienvenu]

an imap protocol log might be helpful, as long as we're actually connecting to the server.

http://www.mozilla.org/quality/mailnews/mail-troubleshoot.html#imap

Comment 2

[Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez]]

After fixing my VM's clock, the problem went away, so it looks like that's what was causing it.

Comment 3

[Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez]]

Hmm, I spoke too soon, as I'm still seeing this problem, even though my VM's clock is relatively accurate these days.  I'll temporarily switch to running Thunderbird on the host OS (Mac OS X) and see if I can reproduce the problem there.

Comment 4

[Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez]]

I wonder if this has anything to do with the Remember Mismatched Domains extension, which has a bug on Linux in Firefox/Thunderbird 2 that "servers that present security certificates with mismatched domains will no longer load when RMD 1.3.3 is installed."

http://www.andrewlucking.com/archives/2006/11/me-and-my-big-mouth/

I'll temporarily disable the extension and see if the problem continues to occur.

Comment 5

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Myk, any useful results from the disable?  Still see the problem?

Comment 6

[Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez]]

Hmm, I don't see the problem anymore, although I do now have Remember Mismatched Domains enabled again (currently at version 1.4.3).  So I guess I'll close this WORKSFORME.