See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/cannot-receive-messages

Do you get any error message?

Is there anything relevant in the Error Console? Press Ctrl+Shift+J to bring up the Error Console.

When I first start the program, I get the following 2 "information" messages:Could not read chrome manifest 'file:///D:/Progs/Thunderbird/chrome.manifest'. Could not read chrome manifest 'file:///D:/Progs/Thunderbird/extensions/%7B972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd%7D/chrome.manifest'.Neither of those files actually exist. In fact, the subdirectory under extensions is actually:D:\Progs\Thunderbird\extensions\{972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd} When I actually try to "get messages", there are no new errors listed in the console.

I tried uninstalling thunderbird and then reinstalling from a fresh download. Exact same result. I did not get any error messages during the original upgrade, or during the re-install that I just did. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Please post your Troubleshooting Information. At the top right of the Thunderbird window, click the menu button , then select Help > Troubleshooting Information. Press the Copy text to clipboard button and paste the information into your reply.

Application Basics

   Name: Thunderbird
   Version: 38.7.1
   User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.7.1
   Profile Folder: Show Folder

             (Local drive)
   Application Build ID: 20160323055719
   Enabled Plugins: about:plugins
   Build Configuration: about:buildconfig
   Memory Use: about:memory

 Mail and News Accounts
   account1:
     INCOMING: account1, , (pop3) mail.4securemail.com:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: mail.4securemail.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true

   account2:
     INCOMING: account2, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext

   account3:
     INCOMING: account3, , (pop3) pop.att.yahoo.com:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtp.att.yahoo.com:587, plain, passwordCleartext, true

   account4:
     INCOMING: account4, , (pop3) inbound.att.net:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: outbound.att.net:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true

 Crash Reports

 Extensions

 Important Modified Preferences

   Name: Value

     browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false
     extensions.lastAppVersion: 38.7.1
     font.internaluseonly.changed: false
     font.name.monospace.el: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.tr: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-baltic: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-central-euro: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-cyrillic: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-unicode: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-western: Consolas
     font.name.sans-serif.el: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.tr: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-baltic: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-central-euro: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-cyrillic: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-unicode: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-western: Calibri
     font.name.serif.el: Cambria
     font.name.serif.tr: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-baltic: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-central-euro: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-cyrillic: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-unicode: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-western: Cambria
     font.size.fixed.el: 14
     font.size.fixed.tr: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-baltic: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-central-euro: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-cyrillic: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-unicode: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-western: 14
     font.size.variable.el: 17
     font.size.variable.tr: 17
     font.size.variable.x-baltic: 17
     font.size.variable.x-central-euro: 17
     font.size.variable.x-cyrillic: 17
     font.size.variable.x-unicode: 17
     font.size.variable.x-western: 17
     gfx.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx: 0
     mail.openMessageBehavior.version: 1
     mail.winsearch.firstRunDone: true
     mailnews.database.global.datastore.id: a12a5afd-2325-4426-8dc7-e4191ef5f4a
     mailnews.database.global.views.conversation.columns: {"threadCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"1"},"flaggedCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"3"},"attachmentCol":{"visible":false…
     network.cookie.cookieBehavior: 3
     network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
     network.predictor.cleaned-up: true
     places.database.lastMaintenance: 1458874221
     places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 104858
     plugin.importedState: true
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_bgcolor: false
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_bgimages: false
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_colorspace:
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_command:
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_downloadfonts: false
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_duplex: 1515870810
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_edge_bottom: 0
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_edge_left: 0
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_edge_right: 0
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_edge_top: 0
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_evenpages: true
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_footercenter:
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_footerleft: &PT
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_footerright: &D
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_headercenter:
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_headerleft: &T
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_headerright: &U
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_in_color: true
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_margin_bottom: 0.5
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_margin_left: 0.5
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_margin_right: 0.5
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_margin_top: 0.5
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_oddpages: true
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_orientation: 0
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_page_delay: 50
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_paper_data: 1
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_paper_height: 11.00
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_paper_name:
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_paper_size_type: 0
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_paper_size_unit: 0
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_paper_width: 8.50
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_plex_name:
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_resolution: 1515870810
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_resolution_name:
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_reversed: false
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_scaling: 1.00
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_shrink_to_fit: true
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_to_file: false
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0
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     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0
     print.printer_HP_Photosmart_Premium_C309g-m.print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0
     privacy.donottrackheader.enabled: true
     security.OCSP.enabled: 0

 Graphics

     Adapter Description: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
     Vendor ID: 0x8086
     Device ID: 0x0166
     Adapter RAM: Unknown
     Adapter Drivers: igdumdim64 igd10iumd64 igd10iumd64 igdumdim32 igd10iumd32 igd10iumd32
     Driver Version: 10.18.10.3958
     Driver Date: 9-30-2014
     Adapter Description (GPU #2): NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M
     Vendor ID (GPU #2): 0x10de
     Device ID (GPU #2): 0x0fd1
     Adapter RAM (GPU #2): 2048
     Adapter Drivers (GPU #2): nvd3dumx,nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2umx nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
     Driver Version (GPU #2): 9.18.13.4752
     Driver Date (GPU #2): 2-5-2015
     Direct2D Enabled: false
     DirectWrite Enabled: false (6.3.9600.18123)
     ClearType Parameters: ClearType parameters not found
     WebGL Renderer: false
     GPU Accelerated Windows: 0

     AzureCanvasBackend: skia
     AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0
     AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo
     AzureContentBackend: cairo

 JavaScript

 Incremental GC: 1

 Accessibility

   Activated: 0
   Prevent Accessibility: 0

 Library Versions

     Expected minimum version
     Version in use

     NSPR
     4.10.10
     4.10.10

     NSS
     3.19.2.3 Basic ECC
     3.19.2.3 Basic ECC

     NSS Util
     3.19.2.3
     3.19.2.3

     NSS SSL
     3.19.2.3 Basic ECC
     3.19.2.3 Basic ECC

     NSS S/MIME
     3.19.2.3 Basic ECC
     3.19.2.3 Basic ECC

Have 2 email accounts, and neither will retrieve email.

Troubleshooting Information shows 3 accounts. Which are the ones you're having problems with?

Sorry for the confusion. I should have been more clear. I have two mail service accounts. There are two email accounts on sbcglobal.net and one on 4securemail.com. None of my 3 email accounts are working on either of the two mail servers.

lots of folk with godaddy hosting here complaining. what has changed we have no idea at this point.

As you appear to know your way around. Perhaps your the person to provide some logs so we might understand.

See https://wiki.mozilla.org/MailNews:Logging

Here are the pop3:5 debug logs. I started the app, waited for the "connected to" status to clear, then attempted "get message from 4securemail.com". Waited for that "connected to" status message to clear, then attempted to "get messages from sbcglobal.net".

Note that smtp works just fine.

2016-04-02 01:00:10.541000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Setting server busy in nsPop3Protocol::LoadUrl 2016-04-02 01:00:10.557000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Setting server busy in nsPop3Protocol::LoadUrl 2016-04-02 01:00:10.557000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Setting server busy in nsPop3Protocol::LoadUrl 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Entering NET_ProcessPop3 0 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: POP3: Entering state: 24 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: POP3: Entering state: 25 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Clearing server busy in POP3_FREE 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Clearing running protocol in POP3_FREE 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: ~nsPop3Protocol() 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Calling ReleaseFolderLock from ~nsPop3Sink 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: ReleaseFolderLock haveSemaphore = FALSE 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Entering NET_ProcessPop3 0 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: POP3: Entering state: 24 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: POP3: Entering state: 25 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Clearing server busy in POP3_FREE 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Clearing running protocol in POP3_FREE 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: ~nsPop3Protocol() 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Calling ReleaseFolderLock from ~nsPop3Sink 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: ReleaseFolderLock haveSemaphore = FALSE 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Entering NET_ProcessPop3 0 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: POP3: Entering state: 24 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: POP3: Entering state: 25 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Clearing server busy in POP3_FREE 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Clearing running protocol in POP3_FREE 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: ~nsPop3Protocol() 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Calling ReleaseFolderLock from ~nsPop3Sink 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: ReleaseFolderLock haveSemaphore = FALSE 2016-04-02 01:01:55.559000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Setting server busy in nsPop3Protocol::LoadUrl 2016-04-02 01:03:35.713000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Entering NET_ProcessPop3 0 2016-04-02 01:03:35.713000 UTC - 0[2311140]: POP3: Entering state: 24 2016-04-02 01:03:35.713000 UTC - 0[2311140]: POP3: Entering state: 25 2016-04-02 01:03:35.713000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Clearing server busy in POP3_FREE 2016-04-02 01:03:35.713000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Clearing running protocol in POP3_FREE 2016-04-02 01:03:35.713000 UTC - 0[2311140]: ~nsPop3Protocol() 2016-04-02 01:03:35.713000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Calling ReleaseFolderLock from ~nsPop3Sink 2016-04-02 01:03:35.713000 UTC - 0[2311140]: ReleaseFolderLock haveSemaphore = FALSE 2016-04-02 01:03:50.667000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Setting server busy in nsPop3Protocol::LoadUrl 2016-04-02 01:05:30.779000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Entering NET_ProcessPop3 0 2016-04-02 01:05:30.779000 UTC - 0[2311140]: POP3: Entering state: 24 2016-04-02 01:05:30.779000 UTC - 0[2311140]: POP3: Entering state: 25 2016-04-02 01:05:30.779000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Clearing server busy in POP3_FREE 2016-04-02 01:05:30.779000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Clearing running protocol in POP3_FREE 2016-04-02 01:05:30.779000 UTC - 0[2311140]: ~nsPop3Protocol() 2016-04-02 01:05:30.779000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Calling ReleaseFolderLock from ~nsPop3Sink 2016-04-02 01:05:30.779000 UTC - 0[2311140]: ReleaseFolderLock haveSemaphore = FALSE

2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: Entering NET_ProcessPop3 0 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: POP3: Entering state: 24 2016-04-02 01:01:50.963000 UTC - 0[2311140]: POP3: Entering state: 25

Read password Done with errors Closed is what that translates to really.

So, I wonder is godaddy are using ancient (read broken) SSL

My understanding from reading this is that godaddy support with and without SSL.

Try changing your connection to be without SSL and see if it works. There have been a lot of changes in SSL (it is obsolete and replaced by TLS really) in recent months. Outlook has not been updated fr quite some time. Sop it would explain outlook working and Thunderbird not as well. But it is only a theory.

Also please wait until Thunderbird is fully loaded, and the initial fetch has done it's thing. Open the error console on the tools menu. Clear it and then attempt to get mail on the godaddy account. Do you see any errors there that look like they relate? the error console gets errors from HTML in emails, RSS feeds and a host of other junky sources, so we have to read what is there with a very jaundiced eye.

short version of the story: I tried pop3 on both mail services without SSL/TLS and it didn't make any difference.

The 4securemail.com email service is registered on GoDaddy, but I am pretty sure that they have their own email servers and do not use GoDaddy's email servers. And of course sbcglobal.net is hosted by AT&T. And both of these services stopped working after I installed the upgrade. So at least in my case, this is likely not related to GoDaddy.

I also thought that this *might* have something to do with the cipher-suite negotiation, since the network connection is reset right after the email server responds to the cipher handhshake. So I went into advanced options and disabled all of the older available ciphers that use 128-bit. This included security.ssl3.dhe_rsa_aes_128_sha, security.ssl3.rsa_rc4_128_md5, etc. But that also didn't make any difference.

I did clear the error log after the initial startup, but there is no other text added to the error log after that.

Hoping you have some more tricks up your sleeve to figure this one out.

Are we looking deeply for a surface problem. Like the good old reliable Norton's blocking mail after an update type of issue.

Please try the following;

• Restart Thunderbird with add-ons disabled (Thunderbird Safe Mode). On the Help menu, click on "Restart with Add-ons Disabled". If Thunderbird works like normal, there is an Add-on or Theme interfering with normal operations. You will need to re-enable add-ons one at a time until you locate the offender.
• Restart the operating system in safe mode with Networking. This loads only the very basics needed to start your computer while enabling an Internet connection. Click on your operating system for instructions on how to start in safe mode: Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, OSX

If safe mode for the operating system fixes the issue, there's other software in your computer that's causing problems. Possibilities include but not limited to: AV scanning, virus/malware, background downloads such as program updates.

Short version of the story: The problem went away / I don't know what fixed it.

Long version: I restarted Thunderbird in safe mode; no difference.

I rebooted the PC (win 8) in safe mode, and it worked.

I rebooted the PC in normal mode, it still works.

I cannot tell what happened. My guess is that some part of the update did not complete until i rebooted in safe mode (even though I had rebooted several times since the update)...

Or... after I disabled the older 128-bit cipher suites, that change did not take affect until I rebooted. I had not rebooted the PC after making those changes, only restarted thunderbird. This is the only thing that makes sense to me at this point, as it is the only real change that I made to Thunderbird. I wouldn't expect that after disabling the old cipher-suites that you would need to reboot the PC to make the change happen, but maybe???

Anyway...my problem is solved for now. Thanks much for the help. Let me know if you need any more info on this, as I am happy to help.

My guess, and it is just that., is that your firewall component may have been blocking the new Thunderbird version. But even more important you had a reboot. It might not have even been safe mode, but the fact you rebooted that forced some system component that had hung to reload and not be hung.

For me it is a lesson in do the simple standard checks first. Reboot, check settings, use safe mode etc. before moving to the harder stuff like logs.