Are you using an app password?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1364324

Is the account IMAP on imap.aol.com or POP on pop.verizon.net?

yes, and it .was changed, in case that was the problem

If your incoming server is imap.aol.com, the authentication should be OAuth2, and the password entered in the OAuth dialog should be the account password. If it's POP on pop.verizon.net, use the app password, as with the outgoing smtp.verizon.net.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1460299

Check there are no obsolete entries in Saved Passwords.

I am sorry that it did not solve my problem, which occurred after the latest Thunderbird update. I. wonder if the port number is now wrong. It was 995, the default. I use Pop.verizon.net, and I have the same password for the outgoing (smtp.verizon.net) as ingoing, and it was changed with the advice and help of two IT specialists.

Port 995 is correct for pop.verizon.net, but are you using an app password in TB? Using the regular account password won't work.

Yes, I am using a special app password. I am still not getting incoming email from AOL on Thunderbird. It stopped in the middle of the afternoon on Sept. 9, which seems to be when the update, downloaded earlier apparently, was run.

The day after I stopped receiving incoming emails from AOL on Thunderbird, we reset the password for the app on AOL Mail. My AOL email account security info. verifies the app password was reset 2 days ago. And under security settings on Thunderbird, I can see the new password as sent from Thunderbird. Both pop.verizon.net and smtp.verizon.net have the same password. The outgoing mail server works, just not the incoming. I am considering stopping using Thunderbird, which I am reluctant to do, because I don't want to get a new email address and because I like the set-up in Thunderbird.

I have this problem too (and I clicked the button that said so!) - apparently my Pop3 accounts stopped retrieving mail sometime on September 9, judging by the timestamp on the latest emails in my folders. In my case, I'm popping email from virtually hosted personal domains, both hosted by the same company - I filed a ticket with them before the thought that Thunderbird might have a bug occurred to me.

(Thunderbird is downloading email from my Comcast and Gmail accounts just fine, but those are IMAP not POP3.)

Like you, I can send email just fine, but I'm unable to download any. There is no error pop-up indicating a problem logging in to the Pop3 server. There's just silent failure to download any of the messages sitting on the server (which I can at least access via the webmail applications my domain host makes available).

I'm running Thunderbird 128.2, if that helps to know. (And I'm thinking of switching to Betterbird, for what that's worth.)

Thank you. Thunderbird suddenly started working, downloading about 150 emails that had been on AOL Mail since Thunderbird stopped getting my emails on Sept. 9, but I have been having a lot of trouble for a couple of weeks with response time-- when I click on an email that has been received from AOL Thunderbird hangs up for many minutes before showing me or deleting an email. I assume you are not using a verizon.net address--would you have to change email address to use Betterbird? And yes, Thunderbird 128.2 is what was updated to on Sept. 9--released Sept. 5. The update didn't solve the response time issue.

"I assume you are not using a verizon.net address--would you have to change email address to use Betterbird?"

No, my understanding is, Betterbird is a "soft fork" of Thunderbird - it follows Thunderbird's versioning closely, and you can just point it at your existing Thunderdbird profile, which should mean I wouldn't have to set up all my accounts again. But I haven't actually taken the plunge and tried it yet.

"Thunderbird suddenly started working, downloading about 150 emails that had been on AOL Mail since Thunderbird stopped getting my emails on Sept. 9...."

That's good to hear - maybe I'll fire up Thunderbird again and see if it's working for me too.

Sorry to hear about the lag time, though. I've experienced that too. Also tabs I'd had open for many sessions getting corrupted and no longer showing the email they started out as. Those are things that started me considering a new email client.

Let me suggest some simple diagnostics: if new mail is visible in webmail but not being downloaded to TB, check (in webmail) for a message that arrived around when the stoppage occurred and delete it, and see if that releases the other messages for download. Second, if TB is 'hanging' during normal operations, make sure the TB profile folder is excluded from antivirus scanning, which is the general recommendation. You can test if AV is affecting TB by running Windows in safe mode - which bypasses startup apps like AV.

"Let me suggest some simple diagnostics: if new mail is visible in webmail but not being downloaded to TB, check (in webmail) for a message that arrived around when the stoppage occurred and delete it, and see if that releases the other messages for download."

I already had gone into Webmail and deleted a bunch of emails, some of which were probably around the right time - I'm on way too many mailing list.

Oh! But all the spam I didn't delete, I just moved it to Junk. Let me try deleting those and see what happens when I fire up Thunderbird again...

No, sadly, still nothing - in fact, it appears there isn't even an ATTEMPT to connect when I run "Get New Messages" on any of the pop3 accounts. No verbiage at the bottom saying "sending login information" and then "no messages to download." Simply nothing at all.

And I'm not running any antivirus beyond Windows's built-in stuff, which never interfered with my email downloading before.

But i appreciate the suggestions!

Coming back to report that Betterbird 128.2.2 has not solved the problem. Whatever happened with the Thunderbird update that killed all POP3 downloads is mirrored in Betterbird's fork. That is all.

Oh, goodness. I think it was a server problem after all.

All the accounts I'm trying to POP3 are on domains at the same host.

A look at the Error Log shows me it's a SecurityCertificate error.

I tried changing my Connection Security settings from SSL/TLS to None, and BAM. Email downloading fine now.

Welp. Guess I'd better poke my ISP about this.

Reporter indicates their problem is resolved as of 9/12/24, 5:03 PM, so we have closed this topic. Please post any remaining problems in a new question. Thanks