[nJm]

I've just set up a .Mac account, and I can't send emails from Mail.app. It can't connect to the smtp server, and I'm really not sure why as I used Apple's built in email wizard for .Mac accounts.

It looks like it tries to connect with my user name and password, but times out. It can receive email without any issues. Is there maybe a firewall setting I need to change?

[JKT]

Unlikely to be a firewall setting. Another potential cause (and quite likely actually) is that your ISP is blocking the sending of email via port 25. In Mail, open the preferences and choose Accounts. Select the .Mac entry in the left pane to edit the settings for your .Mac account and click the Server Settings... button in the Account Information pane. Change the Server Port: setting from 25 to 587. OK the change. Try sending a mail - will probably work.

If not try adding a setting to your Firewall preferences to open port 587. However, note that Apple is doing "routine maintenance" on the .Mac servers at the moment so it might just be something to do with that.