Talk to your email provider.

I have done. I am able to log-on to my talktalk account so they said the problem lies with Thunderbird

What the message means is explained here: http://email.about.com/od/emailbehindthescenes/fl/Understanding-POP-Errors-with-Email.htm There's an article here which says that the problem can arise if you access your account from an iPhone or iPad because its software doesn't send the 'quit' command properly after downloading mails: http://email.about.com/od/emailbehindthescenes/fl/Understanding-POP-Errors-with-Email.htm Have you used a device like that to access your account? Or have you tried downloading mails too frequently? There's usually a 'timeout' set for POP accounts, they will send an error message if you access them too often. However that should clear if you leave the account for an hour or so. Anyway I would advise that you read up on how POP accounts work and then tackle TalkTalk: you will probably know more than them by then.

PS you're obviously not the only TalkTalk user who has run into this: https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/My-Email/Yet-further-problems-TT-OR-Thunderbird/td-p/1722003

How do I get the service working again though?

I've already given you the best advice I can think of: take the time to understand what the message means and why it can occur and then tackle TalkTalk again. If they realise that you are an informed customer they may take you more seriously. Don't accept the answer 'it's not us' because it clearly is them: the error message you are reading comes from their server, not from Thunderbird, and other TalkTalk customers are receiving it too.

You may have given the best reply you can but it is not helping me solve the problem. Talk Talk say that as I can access my emails through their website, the problem lies with Thunderbird. If people have had this problem before why is their no information about how they managed to get round it?

This is a support forum, not a helpline. That means it's a place where Thunderbird users can ask questions of each other and where we can share answers to the problems we've met. The reason why there's no information here on how to solve your problem is either because no other member has found an answer yet or because they haven't shared it. When I said that 'other TalkTalk customers' are having the same problem I was referring to the post on TalkTalk's own help forum (link in my post above), not to other posts here. Have you tried asking for an answer in TalkTalk's own help forum, as others have done? You're clearly not the only customer of theirs who uses Thunderbird, nor the only one who has faced this issue.

Don't be so patronising!. Foolishly, I thought the forum was about helping users with Thunderbird problems. The site directs you to the forum if you are in difficulty. What's the point of that if posters just turn round and say 'sort it out for yourself'. I have been trying to do that since yesterday evening and getting nowhere. I turned to the Forum to see if there was a solution. Obviously that was a bad move.

This forum is for help with problems with Thunderbird. It is not support for your email provider. You have been told that the problem is with your email provider. Like the answer or not that is how it is. The people trying to help are volunteers donating their time so people like you can use free software. They have no obligation to troubleshoot your entire computer and network.

And the advice here is to work with taktalk; other talktalk users, not necessarily using Thunderbird, are having the same problem.

http://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/My-Email/Unable-to-lock-mailbox-11-error/m-p/1874158#M60132 http://www.talktalkmembers.com/t5/My-Email/receiving-email-problem/td-p/1722599 http://www.talktalkmembers.com/t5/My-Email/Email-Other-Issues/td-p/1584267/page/12

Therefore it is not specifically a Thunderbird problem.

You are up against a common situation with ISPs in that if the solution they provide works, (namely webmail) they wash their hands and say it's not their problem. You need to get past the first level of helpdesk numpties who read from a script and don't understand their own systems.

Airmail said

This forum is for help with problems with Thunderbird. It is not support for your email provider. You have been told that the problem is with your email provider. Like the answer or not that is how it is. The people trying to help are volunteers donating their time so people like you can use free software. They have no obligation to troubleshoot your entire computer and network.

I suggest you get rid of the sneering attitude and do what you 'volunteer' to do.

If you had a problem with Thunderbird we could help. You have been told by 3 people now that this is not a Thunderbird problem.

Zenos said

And the advice here is to work with taktalk; other talktalk users, not necessarily using Thunderbird, are having the same problem. http://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/My-Email/Unable-to-lock-mailbox-11-error/m-p/1874158#M60132 http://www.talktalkmembers.com/t5/My-Email/receiving-email-problem/td-p/1722599 http://www.talktalkmembers.com/t5/My-Email/Email-Other-Issues/td-p/1584267/page/12 Therefore it is not specifically a Thunderbird problem. You are up against a common situation with ISPs in that if the solution they provide works, (namely webmail) they wash their hands and say it's not their problem. You need to get past the first level of helpdesk numpties who read from a script and don't understand their own systems.

Thanks for that. I will get onto talktalk (fleur) again.

Good luck. It's not easy.

Airmail said

If you had a problem with Thunderbird we could help. You have been told by 3 people now that this is not a Thunderbird problem.

Fortunately one volunteer was able to provide some info. Other than that I have only had sneering, patronising and condescending replies.

I just read this thread. arly on I read that this was an issue caused on Talk talk servers by defective apple products. If you can not get any sense out of your provider get one that doesknow what they are talking about. Tackle apple about their defective products.. You want help, but your asking about the only place you can not get it.

Talk Talk can fix their problems. Apple can fix their software. Thunderbird, can do nothing. When the elevator is broken, there is no point asking the courier why the parcel is still in the foyer

One of the things that happens to people when they start dealing with email issues is they become extremely cynical of the support offered by Internet Service Providers. It is really questionable if you could actually take action for their incompetence and the false advertising. Rarely do you get someone that knows what they are talking about. Even more rarely. someone that can do more than read the scripts provided by their employer. The person you are ringing knows no more and often less than you do about email. All they do is look up your question on their reading list and read you the answer that they think best fits your need.

These answers are really written by legal people not technically skilled individuals and are more aligned with denying liability than actually providing assistance.

Talk talk advertise a pop and an IMAP mail service. That it is not working is an issue that leaves them liable to compensate the users affected by their failure to deliver the service they contracted to deliver. So they are not going to admit that they have an issue. You might ask for a refund. Instead your fobbed off like last weeks smelly lunch bag.