Just something to try.... to see if your DNS is dodgy really.

If your gmail account is pop try 74.125.204.108 instead of pop.gmail.com

If you gmail account it IMAP try 173.194.72.109 instead of imap.gmail.com

I do not recommend using ip addresses instead of friendly names for very long because Google may change them at any time. but as a diagnostic it does tell you if the DNS server that is providing the resolution is a sick puppy.

Even though your using a MAC, if you have anti virus I suggest you disable it as a test, along with any email scanner.

If you are using something that proxies itself and changes SSL certificates you may find only full removal will allow mail without it.

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

I changed to the ips number but the problem remained the same. If it's any help the error message occurs before the password prompt appears. I tried to determine a pattern but the only consistent occurrence is the first load in the morning. After the hangup it will open and close on command unless there is significant time between the times it is accessed, a couple of hours for example. When it was completely hung up I went into Activity Monitor and took a sample of the Open Files and Ports activity. It's quite large and I have absolutely no idea what it reflects but if you think there may be a clue in it I can forward it.

I verified that logging directly into gmail is problem free as is using Mac's Mail.

That first thing might be a clue. Have a ook at the sleep settings on your network card/Operating system. It might be it is asleep when your try and trying does not necessarily wake it