Creating "General Email" account fails (Connection timeout)
asked 2019-01-09 22:12:09 +0300
Update: Other sailors have similar problems, and they may be related to a bug in the Settings app. The problem seems to exist at least since Sailfish OS 3, and there are numerous mentions on TJC. There are even similarly sounding reports of problems with POP3 accounts. Most people being affected by this report that the reboot trick mentioned below actually does create the account. I consider this a serious bug.
Update: I managed to create a "general email" account by rebooting the device at the time the connection timeout message was displayed. This way, the account information survived the reboot and the account could be used without problems. I'm completely puzzled because after the successful creation of this one "general email" account, both other accounts that I failed to configure yesterday could easily be set up without the reboot -- even the account credential check succeeded.
Unsatisfactory as this situation developed, the title should read more like "There's something wrong with general email accounts on SFOS".
Old problem description:
I am unable to create accounts of the type "general email" with SFOS 3.0.1.11. I tried creating three different accounts (one after finding out that I could not create an Exchange account for the service), all of them with different hostnames and different security settings. All attempts got stuck after "Checking account credentials ...", saying that there was a connection timeout reaching the incoming mail server.
Interestingly, I could not detect a single TCP packet leaving the phone during this account credential check using tcpdump. I have access to some of these mail servers and didn't see anything arriving there, too. So I suspect a problem with setting up the connection.
Probably this problem is related to a couple of people mentioning that "general email" accounts stop syncing after the update, as syncing of course involves logging into the server and exchanging credentials. Another probable correlation I noticed was that when I restored several accounts of this type from a backup, the phone became unresponsive and I had to factory reset it. (I managed to alter the backup such that I could restore it without those accounts.)
I am using a imap/smtp type mail account and have no sync problems.
Granted, I did not try to create a new account as this has been with me for years.
juiceme ( 2019-01-10 10:55:30 +0300 )editI too have experienced this problem, and another one, both related to General Mail account.
After a lot of problems with mobile connectivity on my XA2 I tried to re-install Android and after testing and using Android for some time re-flashed Sailfish 3.0.1.11.
After re-flashing I restored the phone accounts, settings, etc. from a backup on a SD-card. The General Mail accounts did restore, without password as they should, but it was not possible simply to type in the correct password because the password for some reason was not saved.
I deleted both General mail accounts and created new ones but both failed with "Checking account credentials ...", and then saying there was a connection timeout reaching the incoming mail server.
I rebooted the phone and was then able to create new General Email accounts.
My caldav account which connects to the same email server and one of the same email accounts worked fine. I could update the password and it was saved without any problems and the caldav account connected to the server just fine without rebooting or any other action.
DK-Sailor ( 2019-01-24 12:08:08 +0300 )edit@DK-Sailor You are right, this experience sounds very similar to mine. So there may still be some bug in the Settings app, related to changing and storing a password. I remember I had to use
sailfish-accounts-toolvia CLI some time ago with CalDAV accounts to change a password as the Settings app wouldn't let me do that.Should I re-open this question?
Maus ( 2019-01-24 13:59:29 +0300 )editI would suggest that you re-open this question and also tag it as a bug.
I think the problem with not saved passwords in general email accounts has been there for some time and has been raised before but apparently without being solved.
The problem with "Checking account credentials …" and timing out, forcing a reboot, I think is new, I only experienced it, and only heard about is after 3.0.1.11.
DK-Sailor ( 2019-01-24 14:11:04 +0300 )edit@Maus, can you give some details on the server url (if generic provider), the port and kind of connection (plain, ssl, startls) ? I've just tried with my provider imap.free.fr, SSL on standard port and I cannot reproduce the timeout…
Also, may you if you're on Wifi or 3/4G access ?
Damien Caliste ( 2019-04-08 18:15:33 +0300 )edit