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RETR command fails and prevents email from downloading

  • 2 replies
  • 5 have this problem
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  • Last reply by Schade

jernsue
jernsue
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My wife and I each have a Windows 10 account on the same computer. We have Thunderbird on both our Windows accounts and we use the same email server and email address at Comcast.net. Until now, for many years we have had no problems. But today, her Thunderbird cannot retrieve messages - she gets RETR command failed. Mail server mail.comcast.net responded Message 1002 expunged.

However, Thunderbird on my Windows 10 account has no problems downloading emails from that same server using the same email address. The Thunderbird settings on both our accounts are the same. She had a huge number of emails in her inbox, so she moved them to another folder to see if that would help. It didn't.

If there were a server issue we both would have problems. I rebooted the computer to see if her Thunderbird software had been corrupted, but the problem remains.

It appears that the 1002 refers to 10:02 am, the time the email was sent to us. Earlier attempts gave other numbers indicating later email times, so it seems to step backwards in time, perhaps because the emails were accessed by our tablet email apps, but they are still on the server.

My wife and I each have a Windows 10 account on the same computer. We have Thunderbird on both our Windows accounts and we use the same email server and email address at Comcast.net. Until now, for many years we have had no problems. But today, her Thunderbird cannot retrieve messages - she gets RETR command failed. Mail server mail.comcast.net responded Message 1002 expunged. However, Thunderbird on my Windows 10 account has no problems downloading emails from that same server using the same email address. The Thunderbird settings on both our accounts are the same. She had a huge number of emails in her inbox, so she moved them to another folder to see if that would help. It didn't. If there were a server issue we both would have problems. I rebooted the computer to see if her Thunderbird software had been corrupted, but the problem remains. It appears that the 1002 refers to 10:02 am, the time the email was sent to us. Earlier attempts gave other numbers indicating later email times, so it seems to step backwards in time, perhaps because the emails were accessed by our tablet email apps, but they are still on the server.

All Replies (2)

jernsue
jernsue Question owner
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This is an update to my original posting. I have now completely uninstalled Thunderbird and reinstalled it, and re-setup the account to link to the server. The profile is new, containing none of the files in earlier profiles. Still I get the RETR error when trying to download emails. This is on my wife's Windows 10 account. On my Windows 10 account getting emails from the same server works fine.

I have no idea what to try next.

Schade
Schade
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Same issue here, I went to Comcast webmail and deleted the "next in line" email that it seemed hung up on, and the remainder of the emails then loaded in Thunderbird. Fingers crossed it stays functional... this seemed more a Band-Aid then a fix.