Ive searched and cant find an answer to my problems with modest.... ill input my settings and it will retrieve msg list , but it will hardly ever open an email.... i click on a message to open it and the "retrieving" bar just keeps going back and forth. and then ill close it and bring it back up and sometimes it will bring up the box saying my password is incorrect. ive installed it on both an N800 and an N810 with a fresh install of os2008 50-2 several times , and no matter what i do it keeps on happening. ive even changed email addresses thinking there may be an issue with the server and no luck. can anyone help me with this???

Try the modest-users mailing list:
http://modest.garage.maemo.org/

Just don't put too much hope in getting a reply there. It's a low volume mailing list right now, with mostly messages from people reporting crashes or IMAP problems. There don't appear to be any Modest developers on the list, so answers are rare and of the hesitant, you-could-try-this-but-I-really-don't-know variety.

Are you using gmail imap?
I am having same problem but it isn't only Modest. In the desktop I use Claws-Mail, and Checkgmail (a notification applet), and they are having same problem.
Occasionally, it can't connect. I rewrite the password and it connect.

Strange... I know the original mail app will do that, but Modest hasn't done that to me at all.

Hate to ask... but are you 100% sure that you're using the Modest Mail app? The original osso-email app shows that behavior. And oddly enough, both are placed in the menu as "E-mail"... which is annoying as all get out. I've seen the behavior you've mentioned in the original Email app, but not Modest.

ive tried using modest with an sbcglobal.net email addy (pop3) from my isp , and i switchched everything over to a pop3 account from lavabit.com hoping it would solve the problem but no luck....ive never had any problem using either email address with the osso-email app

I've been using Modest for my gmail and cox accounts with very good success. For gmail I've used the imap settings and in the account settings I have it to retrieve "messages and attachments". For cox I use pop settings and have received all emails without any hiccups. Now sending emails in the cox account is a problem since they use smtp port 25 but in modest it is easy to send a reply or new email by just selecting my gmail account.

If you are having problems with modest using gmail (you didn't mention what email service you are using) make certain if you are using imap settings needed for gmail. It is a secure connection using SSL imap4s port 993 and for sending SSL with using "login" for secure authentication on port 465.
I've tried the other email programs including the Maemo tablet email and claws and Modest has worked perfectly for me. I really like the program.
I really tend to think that your message retrieving is a setting problem and not a program one.

i reinstalled modest and set it up to use my gmail account , but when i open it up it come up with a box that says "Trying to establish a secure connection to serverpop.gmail.com with an unknown certificate. allow connections?" if i click ok , the program works fine so far , but its not auto retrieveing my mail because of this. also have the same problem if i set it up to use imap. any ideas how to solve this?

I'm using IMAP and not POP3, however I got that same pop-up (Allow Connections, Yes/No) the first time and it still auto-retrieves without issues.

There was an update released not too long ago (today/yesterday - 1.0-2008.08-1)...

I've been having this problem as well. Used to occur only if/after I deleted the .camel-certs directory, but now msg/prompt appears each time I launch modest.

Reinstall didn't help but perhaps I didn't accomplish a fulll cleanup before retrying.

Anyone else having trouble or found a solution?