814181 - Pop-up "Error writing to folder <name>" repeats many times

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Thunderbird :: Message Reader UI, defect)

Description

[John David Galt]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:17.0) Gecko/17.0 Firefox/17.0
Build ID: 20121119183901

Steps to reproduce:

I started up Thunderbird (which I have set to download POP mail messages on startup, and filter them to folders based on From and subject).

But my PC had crashed earlier and apparently some of my mail folders had bad .msf files as a result.


Actual results:

I got a pop saying that there is an error writing to folder <name> and I should check that the folder is writable and there is disk space (there is).  But not just once -- this popup repeated for every single message that should have gone to an affected folder.


Expected results:

There should be at most ONE popup.  Then TB should stop trying to download mail until I can fix the problem by compacting the folder.  Or better yet, it should do this by itself, silently, and then resume downloading messages.

Comment 1

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

John,

Which folder name(s) is this happening to?

Please specify the full, precise text of the error message.  I ask, because I am not finding previous bugs mentioning this text, except those that involve "temporary file'.

Why did you pick "Message Reader UI"?
(sounds like backend or pop)

Comment 2

[John David Galt]

It's hard to reproduce this one, and the message it produces no longer refers to a folder name.  I saw it once today, while starting up TB 17.0.2, and I didn't capture the exact words but it was something like, "Unable to write to the mail folder" followed by a suggestion that either I didn't have write access or the disk was full.

For what it's worth, I never access that folder with anything but TB itself, and the disk has 14GB free.

Comment 3

[John David Galt]

Next time I see the message I'll followup with the exact wording.

Comment 4

[John David Galt]

In TB 45.0 it happened again, but the message is a new one that suggests remedies including performing Properties -> "Repair Folder" (from the right-click menu).  However, that doesn't fix the issue, and more importantly the message still repeats (because downloading does not stop immediately, as it ought to, when the message appears).  And I can't capture the message because it's modal, and thus impossible to copy from.  It says that the Trash folder can't be written to, and as before the only cure I've found is to restart the computer.  Exiting and restarting Thunderbird doesn't do the job.

Comment 5

[John David Galt]

It also happens with this message (but it's not the one that led me to report this):

   "There is not enough disk space to download new messages.  Try deleting old mail, emptying the Trash folder, and compacting your mail folders, and then try again."

(When this was produced, C: had 151 GB free, so it is obviously BS.)

Comment 6

[:aceman]

What is the size of this folder? In rightlick on folder->properties->Size on disk .
And what is the size shown via Windows explorer when you view that file (see the Location field for where it is located) ?

Comment 7

[John David Galt]

It's the inbox.  Size on disk 20.8 MB.  Size in Windows Explorer 21,310 KB.

Comment 8

[:aceman]

That's strange. Have you tried disabling your antivirus temporarily? Also, are there any errors in the Error console?

Comment 9

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to :aceman from comment #8)
> That's strange. Have you tried disabling your antivirus temporarily? Also,
> are there any errors in the Error console?

we await your reply :)

Comment 11

[Phoenix]

Resolved per whiteboard