Long Lockups on E-mail Downloads

I am using Netscape 7.1 with Windows 98 both at home and at the office. I have been experiencing long lock-ups during downloads of e-mail messages, especially (only?) when there are large messages containing attachments, in both settings. During the lock-ups the cursor moves, but Netscape is entirely unresponsive. At first, if I recall correctly, I used Control-Alt-Delete to boot out of the lock-ups (the close program screen showed Netscape to be not responding) (although I have some memory of having to restart the computer physically on at least some of the occasions). More recently I have discovered that the lock-ups will resolve by themselves if I am patient, usually lasting anywhere from around 30 seconds to several minutes. The lock-ups happen whether or not my VirusScan program is on or is stopped. If there are many messages being downloaded, the program may lock up several times during the download, locking up at the end of large messages before writing the message to the Inbox. I just have upgraded from dial-up to cable at home, and the problem persists. UUNet (MCI) is my e-mail host. My wife is not having any trouble pulling down e-mails at home from her Earthlink account using Outlook Express. I am considering changing from UUNet to Earthlink for other reasons, which should tell me whether the problem is with Netscape or with UUNet, or with their communication. However, if anyone has any ideas as to what the problem might be, I would be grateful.

Thanks!

PLS

 

More Data

I did the following experiment: (1) I pulled down accumulated messages from my UUNet (MCI) mailbox using Netscape 7.1 -- several large messages caused Netscape to lock up for anywhere from several seconds to about 10-15 seconds after the message was pulled down, but before finishing writing it to (displaying it in) the Inbox. (2) I forwarded the same messages to myself and pulled them down using Outlook Express -- no problem: all messages came down instantly, without any lock-ups. (3) I forwarded the same messages to my wife (Earthlink mailbox), and pulled them down using Outlook Express -- no problem: all messages came down instantly. (4) I forwarded the same messages to my wife (Earthlink mailbox) and pulled them down using Netscape 7.1 -- no problem: all messages came down instantly. (5) I also forwarded the messages to myself and pulled them down using Netscape 7.1 -- the same lock-ups occurred. Conclusion: There is something about the relationship between Netscape 7.1 and the UUNet (MCI) server that is causing the problem with Netscape 7.1 lock-ups. I have planned to switch to Earthlink for my mail account for other reasons, and hope that this change will solve the lock-up problem.

Still -- any ideas why this problem exists?

PLS

 

Hi PLS,

I'm really not certain what's going on with MCI and Netscape. My first thought was that it was definitely a server issue, but the fact that you can download the files with no lockup in IE, trashes that thought!

In your Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings | Offline & Disk Space
Have you enabled:
Disk Space:
Compact Folders when it will save over ___ KB?

Have you contacted MCI regarding this issue, by chance?

Ramona

 

MCI and Netscape 7.1 Message Download Lockups

Hi Ramona --

Thanks for your reply to my post. I've not enabled the "Compact Folders when it will save over ___ KB?" option in Preferences | Offline & Disk Space. Most recently (as an additional way to help avoid label losses, as per my postings in an earlier thread) I have been keeping my Inbox empty prior to downloading new messages, so I'm not sure if that would be a factor. Also, I didn't have any problem downloading the same messages using Netscape 7.1 (and the same empty Inbox) from my wife's Earthlink server. I did, however, contact MCI, who naturally said that it was a Netscape problem . . .

I think I'm comfortable leaving this in the realm of unexplained incompatibilities, and addressing the problem by shifting ISPs (which I hope will stop the lock-ups).

Thanks again for your help.

PLS