Cannot create new email account

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Reziac
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Cannot create new email account

Post by Reziac »

SM 2.49.4 on two different PCs, using same profile data. (No, SM version cannot be updated.)

Creating a new account used to work; I have eight of various sorts already set up.

But now, when I select File, New, Account -- instead of getting the box that starts with "Select type of account" (email, NNTP) -- I get a box that has a blank username, and an email address already filled in (usually the default account, but sometimes a different one). And this does actually EDIT an existing account, rather than creating a new one.

Because the problem migrated to the #2 PC along with the profile, I assume something therein is munged up, but can't figure out what. (It was mostly copied manually due to ridiculous volume of email and custom location. But what was working kept working.)

Possibly relevant: they both insist on defaulting to the empty "default" profile at startup, and I have to select my correct profile. (Yes, it's checkboxed. It doesn't work.)

SM 2.53.12 on a third PC (with the exact same extensions), does not have the problem, but it has a brand new profile.

Had the same problem a long time ago (SM 2.?.x) where suddenly it would no longer create new accounts. (Never resolved.)

I could probably force it by copying in the desired new email folder from the #3 PC, but I'd rather figure out what's going on so it can be fixed.

Thanks for any help!
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ElTxolo
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Re: Cannot create new email account

Post by ElTxolo »

  • Image It is very likely, that these profiles are totally rotten/corrupted.


    So perform the Standard diagnostic - SeaMonkey - MozillaZine Knowledge Base


    BTW using a totally unsupported, obsolete and EOL (SeaMonkey 2.49.4 - July 27, 2018') version of SeaMonkey, and unsupported version
    of WindoZe XP
    (EOL April 2014') is very stupid. Image



    Reziac wrote: Thanks for any help!
    you're welcome.








    Image
How to Ask Questions The Smart Way - How to Report Bugs Effectively ;)
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:91.0) Gecko/20240109 SeaMonkey/2.53.18.1
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:91.0) Gecko/20240324 SeaMonkey/2.53.19 :lildevil:

~
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Reziac
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Re: Cannot create new email account

Post by Reziac »

So. the answer is that no one knows what's wrong, and the solution is to replace everything. That I could do without asking here.

And I do not care about EOL; I care that the product doesn't make my eyes bleed and give me an itch to lynch the developers.
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ElTxolo
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Re: Cannot create new email account

Post by ElTxolo »

Reziac wrote:So. the answer is that no one knows what's wrong, and the solution is to replace everything.
  • We're NOT soothsayers here. Hence the recommendation of the standard diagnostic, which, as its name indicates, is a diagnostic and problem solving tool. Image
Reziac wrote:.... That I could do without asking here.
  • But as you are a smarty pants, you are going to find the solution to the problem by yourself. Image
Reziac wrote:.... And I do not care about EOL; I care that the product doesn't make my eyes bleed and give me an itch to lynch the developers.
  • Well then, enjoy using that WindoZe crap. Image
How to Ask Questions The Smart Way - How to Report Bugs Effectively ;)
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:91.0) Gecko/20240109 SeaMonkey/2.53.18.1
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:91.0) Gecko/20240324 SeaMonkey/2.53.19 :lildevil:

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Frank Lion
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Re: Cannot create new email account

Post by Frank Lion »

Reziac wrote:So. the answer is that no one knows what's wrong, and the solution is to replace everything. That I could do without asking here.
Always a good idea to resist the temptation of 'having attitude' when asking for free help from others.

These 'others' are not using 2.49 and so cannot test anything for you and they are also not mind readers. Try to supply at least some of this info and do SafeMode and a new testing profile - http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... #p14867877

Yes, it's a pain to do, but this is your problem, so that's the heat of that particular kitchen.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
.
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Reziac
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Re: Cannot create new email account

Post by Reziac »

Ya know, when the other guy called me stupid first, I'm not the one with attitude.
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LinuxUserSince1991
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Re: Cannot create new email account

Post by LinuxUserSince1991 »

Reziac wrote:SM 2.49.4 on two different PCs, using same profile data. (No, SM version cannot be updated.)

Creating a new account used to work; I have eight of various sorts already set up.

But now, when I select File, New, Account -- instead of getting the box that starts with "Select type of account" (email, NNTP) -- I get a box that has a blank username, and an email address already filled in (usually the default account, but sometimes a different one). And this does actually EDIT an existing account, rather than creating a new one.

Because the problem migrated to the #2 PC along with the profile, I assume something therein is munged up, but can't figure out what. (It was mostly copied manually due to ridiculous volume of email and custom location. But what was working kept working.)

Possibly relevant: they both insist on defaulting to the empty "default" profile at startup, and I have to select my correct profile. (Yes, it's checkboxed. It doesn't work.)

SM 2.53.12 on a third PC (with the exact same extensions), does not have the problem, but it has a brand new profile.

Had the same problem a long time ago (SM 2.?.x) where suddenly it would no longer create new accounts. (Never resolved.)

I could probably force it by copying in the desired new email folder from the #3 PC, but I'd rather figure out what's going on so it can be fixed.
I agree with the others that trying the 'tried and true' diagnostics is a good idea. But I also get that you're upset and just want it fixed. On top of that you'd like to know WHAT happened in the first place. I'm very much like that myself--I like to know the *source* of a problem, not just put a band-aid on it.

Anyway, in your case, I can't help much because I wouldn't be caught dead touching a window$ machine. What I mean is, I have no idea how SM is installed there or anything about troubleshooting something like your problem. On Linux, if I had the same issue, I'd do a fresh install in a new location, then one-by-one add each account and see what happens. If the problem disappeared, then I'd copy in various configuration files, point SM to my e-mail locations, and that's that. Can you do something similar on window$? Do you have a copy of the installation file you used for your version of SM? (I keep all of mine.) If not, perhaps you can locate one in an archive somewhere.

As for the EOL/obsolete issue, I also agree with the others that it's not a good idea to continue using such outdated software. Window$ even when brand-new is a giant bug, filled with security holes and bloatware and other garbage; using an obsolete version just makes that worse. All the security patches and other fixes that were issued along the way are missing from your computer, right? That makes you very vulnerable to a lot of nasty issues. You might want to just bite the bullet and do some upgrading, both of your OS and SM. Odds are your problem will go away if you do. But if you choose to troubleshoot instead, follow the diagnostic steps and post your results, answer my questions, and let we'll try to help.
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Reziac
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Re: Cannot create new email account

Post by Reziac »

Here is the exact problem: It SKIPS this screen and goes directly to the next screen:

Image

If I don't learn how it went wrong (and assuming it's not yet another unresolved bug... there are open bugs over 15 years old), then when it happens again in the future (which seems likely given this is not the first time) I'm stuck with what is not really a fix, of rebuilding one piece at a time. I would rather know what's going on so I can actually FIX it when (not if) it happens again on some newer setup. Therefore I was hoping someone had run into the same issue and had a better solution than "start over".

Given that the problem follows the MAIL, I have a suspicion the trigger is that it can't cope with mail folder structure beyond a certain level of complexity, leading to a flipped flag in Config. (I've seen that sort of thing before, where some setting had to be toggled a couple times to correct it.) p

I've already been through the reinstallation dance, several times. The current incarnation of the problem dates back several versions, probably to SM 2.46.x I always install in a custom location, and I do not install on top of an older one. It finds the profile on its own. Mail is located on its own partition and that has to be set manually.

Linux installation is a different beast -- having found custom-linux-anything to be somewhat fragile, I leave that entirely up to the package manager (Synaptic, in my preferred distro) so it does whatever is the default. Even so, I'd probably use more linux and less Windows if it would play nice with my home network, but nope, doesn't work reliably and no help to be found... finally gave up and installed XP in VirtualBox, and use that when I need to access another PC; it works flawlessly ALL the time.

As to what I use -- in immediate reach I have systems running DOS7, XP, XP64, Win7Pro, Server2008R2, Win 8.1 Enterprise, Win10Pro, Fedora35/KDE, PCLinuxOS/KDE, Manjaro/PinePhone, ReactOS, and a Hackintosh. (And I used to collect viruses; I have over 2000 unique specimens, and ID'd two new species in the wild.) It's not a matter of newer/older, it's a matter of what does what I need and doesn't constantly irritate, and for everyday that is still XP. Don't do foolish things, and EOL is not an issue.

Considering my everyday boxen measure uptime in months or even years, I must be doin' that Winbuggy thing wrong. ;)

Anyway, hopefully someone can identify the actual problem; if not, I may report back when/if I discover something new.
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LinuxUserSince1991
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Re: Cannot create new email account

Post by LinuxUserSince1991 »

Reziac wrote:Linux installation is a different beast -- having found custom-linux-anything to be somewhat fragile, I leave that entirely up to the package manager (Synaptic, in my preferred distro) so it does whatever is the default. Even so, I'd probably use more linux and less Windows if it would play nice with my home network, but nope, doesn't work reliably and no help to be found... finally gave up and installed XP in VirtualBox, and use that when I need to access another PC; it works flawlessly ALL the time.
My home [and work] networks have always been *nix-based, first UNIX then Linux, and they've worked flawlessly. It's weird that you have network-related problems with Linux, considering that *nix was built from the ground-up to be multiuser, multitasking, and networked, while window$ was patched together to get there. The biggest network in the world, the Internet, runs on Linux! :)

As for your actual issue, I don't think I can help. I hope someone else can.
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Reziac
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Re: Cannot create new email account

Post by Reziac »

Thanks for trying. I think I'll set up a test box and see if I can deliberately break it, which might tell me something. (In my copious spare time, anyway...)

Yeah, no idea why linux networking is not playing nice... it does sometimes, then not another, even when it just did two seconds before. Live ISOs do, installed same distro doesn't. Loves the iPhone, won't speak to the PinePhone....
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therube
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Re: Cannot create new email account

Post by therube »

(I don't use mail... [but I might start]... & don't particularly pay attention, but long past [& dulled] memory seems to recall something akin to [& long standing bug similar to] the issue you've run into.

And that may very well relate to the 2.49 series...

There has to be a work-around.
Have you searched the forums?)


BTW, 2.49.5 was the last version of 2.49.x.
Fire 750, bring back 250.
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Reziac
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Re: Cannot create new email account

Post by Reziac »

Yeah, it's the sort of bug that becomes immortal... as noted I first ran into it a long time ago, would have been about 2010. Did search, didn't find anything relevant.

Thanks for the link -- I think 2.49.5 refused to run, or some other bad behavior, but maybe I'll give it another try.
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