Closed Bug 656072 Opened 13 years ago Closed 13 years ago

Thunderbird "Failed to connect to server" after connecting to Internet

Categories

(MailNews Core :: Networking, defect)

Product:
MailNews Core
Component:
Networking
Version:
1.9.2 Branch
Platform:
x86_64
Linux
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
minor

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
RESOLVED WORKSFORME

People

(Reporter: schapel, Unassigned)

Details

(Whiteboard: [has wireshark logs])

Attachments

(1 file)

Wireshark capture of problem
70.25 KB, application/x-pcap
Details 
Whenever I establish a network connection on my laptop and then try to look at my emails in Thunderbird by clicking on an Inbox, I get a message "Failed to connect to server" for each email server I try. The next time I click on a server's Inbox, Thunderbird is able to connect.

I even get this message after I ensure that the network connection is working by opening a page with Firefox. If I wait about a minute after the connection is established, I do not get the error message.

See <http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=2075909> for discussion about the problem.

I experience this problem with versions of Thunderbird 3.1 from the Fedora 13 and Fedora 14 repositories, and others experience the problem with the Thunderbird from Ubuntu.
Component: General → Networking
Product: Thunderbird → MailNews Core
QA Contact: general → networking
Version: 3.1 → 1.9.2 Branch
I have been happily using thunderbird without any issues for years.  However I have just got a new PC with Windows 7 and this issue has started happening using Thunderbird 3.1.10.

I will keep more info about when it happens, but I think it's mainly if I have been away from my desk for a little while, when I come back and 'Get Mail' it fails to connect, it also fails on the 2nd attempt, then works on the 3rd.

I recently converted my Mam to Thunderbird too (differenct house - but both using PlusNet as ISP) and she regularly reports that it can't connect when downloading or sending then it magically starts working a few retries later.

I had not experienced this until this week, thought my Mam was daft, but owe her an apology now :)
The reports suggest that this issue might be platform independent.
OS: Linux → All
More info: Mam's laptop is running Windows 7 too and her Thunderbird version is 3.1.10.

The problem can happen for her multiple times a day, but not every time, whether busy on laptop or not, normally connects on 2nd attempt

She's just reported that my Dad (this is fast becoming a family thing) is having the same problem (same house as my Mam - different laptop) and he is running version 3.1.10 on Windows XP.
The issues I have explained appear to be related to our ISP, PlusNet.  There DNS setup was causing intermittent issues.
(In reply to comment #4)
> The issues I have explained appear to be related to our ISP, PlusNet.  There
> DNS setup was causing intermittent issues.

SO your issue is solved ?
Yes, apologies for the mis-information.
(In reply to comment #6)
> Yes, apologies for the mis-information.

No problem. Better a fake issue than missing one.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 13 years ago
Resolution: --- → INVALID
> No problem. Better a fake issue than missing one.

That's an attitude I applaud :)
This is not a fake issue. The original issue is still a problem.
Status: RESOLVED → REOPENED
Resolution: INVALID → ---
OS: All → Linux
Steve so can you add some information so we can figure what's broken in your case ?
What additional information is needed? There's a fairly lengthy discussion of the problem in the forum post I link to in comment #0, where several Linux users say they experience the same problem.

I think one thing that may need to be determined is if the Linux distributions (Fedora and Ubuntu) are modifying Thunderbird in some way that causes the problem. Should I try downloading Mozilla's version of Thunderbird and seeing if the problem happens with it?

I'm using IMAP to connect to my email servers. Should I try a POP server and see if has the same problem?

Should I try Fedora 15 and the latest version of Thunderbird?
(In reply to comment #11)
> What additional information is needed? There's a fairly lengthy discussion
> of the problem in the forum post I link to in comment #0, where several
> Linux users say they experience the same problem.
> 
> I think one thing that may need to be determined is if the Linux
> distributions (Fedora and Ubuntu) are modifying Thunderbird in some way that
> causes the problem. Should I try downloading Mozilla's version of
> Thunderbird and seeing if the problem happens with it?

You can try but I don't think this will be dependant. You can log network traffic and see why/when we are failing. Is ipv6 enabled in your setups ?
I reproduced and captured a log the problem by:
1. Turning off Wi-Fi on my laptop.
2. Waiting just over ten minutes.
3. Turning on Wi-Fi on my laptop.
4. Starting Wireshark on WLAN.
5. Clicking on my Inboxes in Thunderbird.
Yes, I suppose IPv6 is enabled.
(In reply to comment #14)
> Yes, I suppose IPv6 is enabled.

What's the value of network.dns.disableIPv6 in your install ?
Attachment #536383 - Attachment mime type: application/octet-stream → text/plain
Attachment #536383 - Attachment mime type: text/plain → application/x-pcap
Whiteboard: [has wireshark logs]
(In reply to comment #15)

> What's the value of network.dns.disableIPv6 in your install ?

It's false.
You might try disabling IPv6 and see if that helps. This is most likely not an issue with the core Thunderbird code, but something lower level or outside of Thunderbird, either in the Mozilla core networking code, or in a firewall or router or even a virus checker.

In TB 5, if you put a laptop to sleep, we shutdown cached connections, which means we'll establish new connections next time you try to do things with imap folders. I don't know if this is relevant or not. If toggling the offline icon back and forth before trying to reconnect to an imap folder helps with this issue, TB 5 might work better for you.
What about the possibility that your ISP's server is suspending its mail server after some inactivity, so when you ask for mail your server has to restart or swap in the mail program. Any reason to blame the mail client or OS instead of the ISP's software? Might be their new version of something.
The problem always happens while Thunderbird remains open and Internet connectivity is lost and is regained. If it were due to inactivity at the server, then the problem would happen when I first start Thunderbird also. I see the problem with two different email servers, and several Linux users also see the problem with other email servers, yet I haven't heard of users of other operating systems see the problem. That also suggests a problem on the client side.

I tried setting network.dns.disableIPv6 to true, but the problem still occurs. I'll try Thunderbird 5 when I can -- I tried running the beta, but it complains of an error when loading shared libraries.
Thunderbird 5 seems to resolve this issue, probably as discussed in comment #17.
Status: REOPENED → RESOLVED
Closed: 13 years ago → 13 years ago
Resolution: --- → WORKSFORME
I have this exactly same issue. Always had it. Thunderbird 3.1.11 on Ubuntu 10.10.

The status of this bug seems wrong ("resolved worksforme") since it has been confirmed, hasn't it? So it is either confirmed or fixed (if it's true that version 5 fixes it).
It never got fixed and now (TB 8.0 on Ubuntu 11.10) it's even worse:

After disconnecting and reconnecting to the internet, the first time I click "Get Mail", the status bar says "looked up <server_name>" forever and then never finishes checking for new messages, let alone downloading them.

The second time I click "Get Mail" it works fine. This is worse than before because before at least you got an "unable to connect" notification and a (wrong) "no messages to download on the server" status which were wrong but at least you knew for sure the operation had failed.
This is still a problem for me in Thunderbird 10 on both Linux (Ubuntu) and Windows (7). The first time I click "Get Mail," Thunderbird spins and the connection fails. Subsequent times work okay (usually).
Please anybody reopen this bug!!

See comments 22 and 23. This is not fixed and have been confirmed.
For all those still seeing this bug, please file a new bug - Steve who originally filed it confirmed he was happy in TB 5 with the result.

If you are seeing a related issue, it is highly likely that your issue may not be exactly the same as Steve's. Please deal with this in a fresh bug where we can deal with your symptoms better. Thanks.
I'm seeing this issue again with Ubuntu 12.04 and Thunderbird 12. Did anyone ever open a new bug about the problem?
I did open a new bug
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=737241

thought I don't see the point in it, it's exactly the same issue (whether or not the cause is the same).

I personally never saw this fixed
This bug is still affecting me on Thunderbird 13.0.1 on Linux Mint 12 Lisa (an Ubuntu variant).

After, for example, waking the PC from suspended mode, I see the network connection being established in the system’s indicator applet. I then click on the IMAP Inbox in Thunderbird and get this annoying message “Failed to connect to server”, for every first click on an IMAP account. On second click, Thunderbird establishes connection and e-mail list is updated.
Florian:

This is a long shot, but could this bug be possibly related to the bug where Twitter in TB's IM sometimes stops being updated? (Or was that the XMLHttpRequest thing that got fixed?)

-Mike
(In reply to Mike Conley (:mconley) from comment #29)
> Florian:
> 
> This is a long shot, but could this bug be possibly related to the bug where
> Twitter in TB's IM sometimes stops being updated? (Or was that the
> XMLHttpRequest thing that got fixed?)

So I dealt with 2 different bugs related to tweets not being sent:
- the XHR bug that was a regression in Mozilla 13.
- a bug in Instantbird's C++ wrapper around libpurple, that broke the socket transport service by keeping hundred of idle sockets in there.
It's possible you have a similar bug in mailnews/. It doesn't seem very likely though, as I see only 2 places using the socket transport service (nsMsgProtocol.cpp and nsImapProtocol.cpp), and it's always using the createTransport method, which should be less error prone.

If the bug can easily be reproduced with a debug build, it's easy to check if the socket transport service is full of idle socket by just using export NSPR_LOG_MODULES="nsSocketTransport:5" on the command line.
If at first I have problems connecting with a server for any reason I get this annoying "failed to connect to server" thunderbird" as a most inconvenient modal dialog box for each server that it applies for. Trouble connecting is to be expected at times. 

The real problem seems to be that the user interface should not require you to click through to start being productive. A simple notification box in the corner of the main window would be ideal, and if it eventually connects, the notification box should go away on its own without user intervention.
You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.

Attachment

General

Creator:
Created:
Updated:
Size: