Messages suddenly disapeared.

User Help for Mozilla Thunderbird
pir
Guest

Another "Mee too"

Post by pir »

I've been using thunderbird since v 0.7 -- and this is the worst bug I can think of for an email client. I've seen similar issues in the past, but that was YEARS ago.

I (fortunately) noticed this almost immediately after upgrading to 1.5.0.8 yesterday -- messages being reported as received, but nowhere to be found.

It is downloading the messages, adding them to the mailbox file, and not displaying them in the client.

This happens for me even for an account that has no junk folder, and is not supposed to filter anything as junk, and in fact doesn't even receive any junk, although I use junk filtering on other accounts.

I'm not using local folders for accounts, each account has it's own set of folders, and I've seen it happen on all accounts.

Compacting the folder *deletes* the "hidden" messages.

I can't see anything obvious as to why this happens. Some of the messages that ended up hidden were nearly identical to others, except for the date headers. It seems like it is more "likely" to happen to a message that comes immediately after a message with an attachment.

Perhaps the code that determines where messages begin and end is mixing the next message into the attachment for the previous message?

I'm going to try downgrading...
jsm555
Posts: 137
Joined: December 24th, 2005, 8:52 am
Location: Waxahachie TX
Contact:

Post by jsm555 »

Oh, man... this looks bad - Can someone point me to instructions on downgrading to 1.5.0.7? I don't see anything in the kb about this process -
pir
Guest

Post by pir »

jsm555 wrote:Oh, man... this looks bad - Can someone point me to instructions on downgrading to 1.5.0.7? I don't see anything in the kb about this process -


uninstall 1.5.0.8 and then install 1.5.0.7

You can get that version here:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbir ... l#download

All historical releases are still available for download.

If you're paranoid (like me) make a backup of your profile first.
Sebastian1978
Guest

Whoa...

Post by Sebastian1978 »

So, THAT is what's happening to my email...

As everyone else, I downloaded the "Security Upgrade" (Nov 08) and started having similar "Ghost In The Machine" removing some of my emails. I get a pop-up saying I have 5 new mail, but only 3 show. Sometimes, I get a new email warning, BUT no mail showing in my inbox. This started freaking me out haha, as if I'm not paranoid enough.



This started AFTER the update to 1.5.0.8 (20061025)

It seems only spam i affected, but I have not changed any settings and I do NOT have a spam folder in my "Local Folder"

I have checked the "Junk Mail Log" now after reading thru this thread



HEY, THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO-People, can you at least reply to this as this MIGHT be critical for you if it get's enough momentum?
jpmullally
Posts: 2
Joined: November 15th, 2006, 3:22 am

A possible clue?

Post by jpmullally »

This has happened to me with two incoming messages. Both were not displayed in my inbox folder. Both were spam, but were NOT flagged by TBird because it is not trained yet. Both messages are in the "inbox" data file in my profile. Both had X-MOZILLA-STATUS: 0000 and X-MOZILLA-STATUS2: 00000000 values.

I backed up my profile, then compacted it. Compacting removed the two messages from the data file. Shouldn't they be left there with a 0000 status?

Also, I was able to read both emails in both TBird and OE after converting them to .eml's, so they are not in some invalid mail format.

Interestingly, both emails were faked to look like they were replies to emails from me.

Could the fact that they were faked to look like replies have anything to with it? Anyone with similar experience?

Thanks,

Jim
MOster
Guest

It's a bug in 1.5.08

Post by MOster »

I'm forced to agree with the posters above. I was having similar message disappearance problems. The filters would run on my IMAP inbox, and the destination folders were bolded, but no new messages were visible. I tried deleting the .MSF files and compacting my root folders but that didn't work. Uninstalling 1.5.08 and reinstalling 1.5.07 solved the problem instantly. This is a big deal for anyone who uses filters to break legitimate messages from spam. I will be reluctant to go to 1.5.09 unless this bug is explicitly discussed in the release notes, and I agree that 1.5.08 should be pulled until this issue is resolved.
jsm555
Posts: 137
Joined: December 24th, 2005, 8:52 am
Location: Waxahachie TX
Contact:

Post by jsm555 »

Thanks! That was easy (once you told me where to find the 1.5.0.7 release!) :-)
pir wrote:
jsm555 wrote:Oh, man... this looks bad - Can someone point me to instructions on downgrading to 1.5.0.7? I don't see anything in the kb about this process -


uninstall 1.5.0.8 and then install 1.5.0.7

You can get that version here:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbir ... l#download

All historical releases are still available for download.

If you're paranoid (like me) make a backup of your profile first.
RobP
Posts: 4
Joined: November 13th, 2006, 2:08 am

Post by RobP »

Just by way of an update. I re-installed 1.5.0.7, turned off Updating and re-named my inbox.msf.
Re-started Thunderbird and 16 spam messages from 11\11 to 13\11 appeared in Bold.

ALL my messages were SPAM and they ALL had a subject line starting Re: so I imagine they were probably all formatted in the same way, obviosuly a way that 1.5.0.8 had problems dealing with.

I agree with what other people are saying on here. this seems to be a MAJOR BUG in 1.5.0.8 and I think deserves an official response from the Mozilla\Thunderbird developers as this must be affecting a LOT of people and maybe not just SPAM emails.
curtingram
Guest

The Bug Worsens...?

Post by curtingram »

Have a friend just ping me...she said she noticed the new e-mails being unaccounted for a few days ago. Thought it was no biggie (before seeing this thread) until she opened TB tonight and it asked her to create a new account, having wiped everything. That counts as a bad thing in my book. I'm walking her through the steps to recover and downgrade, but has anyone else had a catastrophic delete like this?

Thanks.
jiranz
Posts: 133
Joined: February 28th, 2006, 6:10 pm

Post by jiranz »

We are all dealing with loss of "Incoming" emails.

Has anyone checked their "Sent" emails to see if there is a full record of what they sent?
jago25_98
Posts: 33
Joined: February 24th, 2005, 6:26 am
Location: uk

Post by jago25_98 »

Got to get this sorted, it looks bad on me and bad on open source.

1) How do I copy a profile with a new name so I can edit things and start again?
If I just copy the folder and rename it it doesn't appear in profile manager.
answer: use profile manager to rename but not to copy

2) Also, Is there something that can extract inbox files for me to start trying data recovery?

3) and finally, is there a way to avoid this happening again, perhaps to keep a copy in the server?
Guest1508
Guest

Post by Guest1508 »

In reply to emergency viewing of mail that has disappeared due to the bug in 1.5.0.8:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mbox-viewer/

will let you view the Inbox file and see possibly all the messages that have disappeared (assuming the folder hasn't been compacted, in which case, bummer). This is assuming you don't want to downgrade to 1.5.0.7 (and run a couple other steps to fix) which has a security issue.

The 1.5.0.8 bug / status is detailed here:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=360409

The developers have found a fix but haven't indicated when 1.5.0.9 will be released. From the URL above, it sounds like the 1.5.0.9 release will automatically make the messages re-appear (again assuming the folders haven't been compacted).
User avatar
jlkbiorg
Posts: 32
Joined: April 28th, 2004, 1:14 am

Post by jlkbiorg »

I need help from someone familiar with Mac version installations/updates. My inbox messages started to no-show two days ago, but I just recovered my messages by downgrading to 1.5.0.7. Unfortunately, the update preferences was set to automatically update and the second time it restarted, 1.5.0.8 reinstalled. I not only couldn't stop it, I couldn't find the v. 1.5.0.8 .dmg file it was using, assuming it still needed one (includes Finder-searching Thunderbird on all drives). I did uncheck the two auto-update preferences, but am not sure this will be enough. Don't particularly like the idea of playing eensie-weensie-spider with my mail installation for the next week.

I could export the messages to Apple mail, so this is a way for Mac users to read mail, like MBox Reader above. For some reason, a number of messages don't seem to want to stay in the subfolders they started out in, however. In general, I hate the way Apples does their folders system: it refuses to let you organize it as it was in TBird, for example. Further signs that there is little difference anymore between how they make design decisions as compared with the dark kingdom in the north.

Are we Mac users cursed to a near-future of repeatedly losing our memories like in some Philip K. Dick novel?
JLK
stevensee
Guest

Cure for 1.5.0.8/1.5.0.9

Post by stevensee »

Here's the step I manage to recover my Inbox,

1. Make sure TB is not activated.
2. Open your Inbox with WordPad/Notepad. Replace all 0008 and 0018 with 0000.
3. Delete your Inbox.msf
4. Start TB, you should be able to see all your mails again.

My comments is, don't use 1.5.08 & 1.5.0.9 for business, email still disappear from Inbox and Sent Folder.

Let's wait for 1.5.10.
User avatar
jlkbiorg
Posts: 32
Joined: April 28th, 2004, 1:14 am

Post by jlkbiorg »

Thanks, but 1.5.0.9 worked fine when it was released on the Mac and all the Windows users I know had the same experience. The developers were under a lot of pressure to make sure of that, and though something much like it could happen again, I don't see reasons to avoid the repaired software.
JLK
Locked