on 30-10-2021 08:19
In the last 18 months I have been unable to access my email three times for several days each time. I follow the various recommendations, without any success.
This week I was without email for appx 18-hours, use of it was back late yesterday afternoon and it has gone down again this morning.
There are only so many times I can re-boot my machines, re-boot the hub and change my password.
Thank you
Any advice please, suggestions on why this is happening, how to stop it happening?
Answered! Go to Answer
on 30-10-2021 09:43
@jks2021 wrote:There are only so many times I can re-boot my machines, re-boot the hub and change my password.
Assuming you keep getting the "Your mailbox is unavailable ......................try again in an hour message" there is no need to reboot your devices or the hub.
Email accounts are being locked by Virgin Media for some reason and the only thing you can do to regain access to your account is to reset your email password. Sometimes even that does not work and it needs VM to get involved.
However, if you read the full post from VM here https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/Email-accounts-locked-mailbox-unable-unable-to-access-ema... you will see they also say that you should run a full scan with your antivirus software on all devices that your use to access your VM email.
Personally, I would go further than that because I always like a belt and braces approach. I would also run a scan with something like Malwarebytes https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download (it's a "free trial" but you can keep using it as long as you like). That may well detect malware that your AV misses.
Alternatively, you might prefer to run one of the many free online AV scans that are available as a second sweep for malware and viruses.
As a final solution you could stop using VM's email service and switch to one of these https://www.lifewire.com/best-free-email-accounts. All of those are more reliable and more secure than VM. Plus, remember that if / when you switch broadband provider you will lose your VM email accounts. If you switch to any of those email services listed in the link you can switch broadband provider and still keep your email account.
I hope that's helpful 😉
Coenoby
I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media.
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on 30-10-2021 09:43
@jks2021 wrote:There are only so many times I can re-boot my machines, re-boot the hub and change my password.
Assuming you keep getting the "Your mailbox is unavailable ......................try again in an hour message" there is no need to reboot your devices or the hub.
Email accounts are being locked by Virgin Media for some reason and the only thing you can do to regain access to your account is to reset your email password. Sometimes even that does not work and it needs VM to get involved.
However, if you read the full post from VM here https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/Email-accounts-locked-mailbox-unable-unable-to-access-ema... you will see they also say that you should run a full scan with your antivirus software on all devices that your use to access your VM email.
Personally, I would go further than that because I always like a belt and braces approach. I would also run a scan with something like Malwarebytes https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download (it's a "free trial" but you can keep using it as long as you like). That may well detect malware that your AV misses.
Alternatively, you might prefer to run one of the many free online AV scans that are available as a second sweep for malware and viruses.
As a final solution you could stop using VM's email service and switch to one of these https://www.lifewire.com/best-free-email-accounts. All of those are more reliable and more secure than VM. Plus, remember that if / when you switch broadband provider you will lose your VM email accounts. If you switch to any of those email services listed in the link you can switch broadband provider and still keep your email account.
I hope that's helpful 😉
Coenoby
I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media.
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks
on 30-10-2021 12:39
on 31-10-2021 06:41
A further problem. Now if I try to login (thought it worth another go) I get 'forbidden'!
on 31-10-2021 09:13
@jks2021 wrote:Now if I try to login (thought it worth another go) I get 'forbidden'!
That is indeed another problem that many people are seeing. It is not clear whether it is connected with the "mailbox unavailable" issue or not.
You could try using a different browser or try accessing the sign in page from an "Incognito" window in Chrome, a "private" window in Firefox or using the "Inprivate" option in Edge. That will get round the "forbidden" error it's caused by a cookie or browser issue. However, most people still get the same error, which proves it is a VM issue. It's worth a try though. 😉
Coenoby
I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media.
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks
on 01-11-2021 09:17
Hey @jks2021,
Welcome to the community and thanks for taking the time to post.
Are you still having issues with your mailbox at the moment?
Regards,
Steven_L