What You Can Do If IMAP AOL Not Responding

By Thomas G. Bass | November 17, 2019

Have you come across a situation where IMAP AOL not responding while refreshing your mailbox? Irrespective of the device you use, the mail server may stop responding anytime. Moreover, it may ask you to enter the right account credentials in order to login to your AOL account.

There are multiple reasons behind this specific error in your mail account. It includes technical glitches with the email server or issues with the mail settings. In the further section, we will walk you through the reasons and some effective solutions for resolving this particular problem. 

Reasons Behind IMAP AOL COM not Responding

The following points will explain why AOL not responding while accessing your mail account on Windows or iOS devices.

  • If you have recently made any changes in the network’s settings, certain changes can lead to a problem like this. 
  • In case, you are not using a specific proxy address to connect to the Internet, AOL may turn unresponsive
  • Moreover, if you are running AOL mail service in different add-ons mode, it can be a reason for causing the error. 
  • Using AOL Desktop Gold software for accessing the mail service can result in this error.

Besides, the mail error can arise due to issues like corrupted AOL files, compatibility issues, Firewall blocking the access, malware or virus invasion, etc.

Steps to Apply when AOL not Responding

The above section has described the factors due to which the AOL mail server may not respond. In this section, we will deal with the methods to make the AOL mail server respond again. Now, let’s discuss the fixes to solve this error on iOS, Windows 10, Android, and desktop individually. 

  • For iOS

Apply the following steps to fix the issue in your iOS device.

Step 1: Unlock Google Captcha

Launch a web browser on the iOS device and access the following site: “https://www.google.com/a/domainname.com/Unlockcapcha” 

Login using your Gmail account’s credentials after choosing the genuine domain name for the Google Apps.

After you have logged into the account, type the right captcha phrase in the respective field. Follow the further steps provided on-screen and complete the process. When you are done, you will see an “Unlock” option. 

This method of unlocking Google Captcha is likely to solve the problem. But if it persists, go to the next step.

Step 2: Delete and Reinstall Email Account

Follow the instructions below to remove and reinstall the AOL email account from your iOS-enabled device.

  • Go to Settings and click on the “Accounts & Passwords” option.
  • Open the AOL email account and find the “Delete Account” option written in red color.
  • After deleting the account, again, get back to the “Accounts & Passwords” option from the Settings.
  • You will see an option to add an account. So, click on AOL and sign in to the email account using your login information.

  • For Windows 10 Operating System

If you are using AOL mail service on Windows 10 Operating System and facing the same issue, you can take the measures mentioned below.

Trick #1: Run the Troubleshooter

Click on the Start button and type “Troubleshooting” in the search box. When the result appears, select the respective option. When the new window opens, hit the “View all” option located at the left panel of the window. Tap on “Internet Explorer Performance” and follow the on-screen instruction. Hopefully, the issue will be resolved and AOL will come out of its unresponsive mode.

Note: When you perform this specific trick, make sure the system is connected to the Internet.

Trick #2: Unblock Active Scripting, ActiveX, and Java

Sometimes, Java, Active Scripting or ActiveX are blocked by the browser, which you use along with the AOL mail service. In that case, reset the browser’s setting to get those services back into their default state.

To do so, go to the browser’s Settings and hit the Security tab, where you can see these options. Reset all the options to restore the default settings. It will unblock those services on your browser and make AOL respond again.

Trick #3: Remove Add-ons from Browser

If you use the mail service while keeping some suspicious add-ons enabled in the browser, it may be the reason why AOL not responding. In such a case, you can disable and remove those add-ons to avoid such an error. You can locate the add-ons in the browser settings and delete them.

  • On Android

While working on your Android device, you may notice IMAP AOL com not responding. In that case, you can do the following.

  • Log in to your AOL account after performing the two-step verification.
  • Tap on the “Manual Setup” option and then go to IMAP settings.
  • Now, set up the incoming as well as the outgoing server details as per the following:

Incoming Server

Set IMAP Server- imap.aol.com, Port- 143, and Security Type- None

Note: Press the Next button to set the outgoing server settings as per the following.

Outgoing Server

SMTP Server- smtp.aol.com, Port-587

Press the Next button and enter the username and password to access your AOL Mail account.

  • For Desktop

This method will perform a clean boot on Windows OS and may fix the problem with your AOL account. Below are the instructions to apply this method.

  • Press Windows+R to launch the Run dialog box. Type “msconfig” in the box and hit OK. Then, open the General tab.
  • Select the “Selective startup” option and uncheck the “Load startup items” box under it. Also, switch over to the “Services” tab and check the box for “Hide all Microsoft services”.
  • Press the “Disable all” button and then tap on “Apply”. Save these changes by hitting “OK”.
  • After restarting the system, go to the General tab on the System Configuration window. Check the box for “Normal startup” and click Apply.

Finally. hit OK, restart your computer to apply the changes and try to launch your AOL Mail account. 

Concluding Remarks

The above-discussed methods have hopefully, covered all the steps you can try if AOL not responding. We hope you get the answer to what you are looking for in this article. If you are still in doubt or not able to understand any point, you can mention that in our comment section below.

In case, you want us to cover stepwise guidelines for resolving any other AOL-related error, post your requirements in the comments below. 

Posted in AOL