[Dovecot] newbie question - no users can retrieve email (login works) pop3

[Web Enabled Info Systems]

not sure where to go from here....

OS : Red Hat Fedora  2.6.5-1.358 #1
sendmail: sendmail
dovecot version : 0.99.10.5

i can send email to the server.
the email is then appended to the /var/mail/{user} file.
i can view the /var/mail/{file} and see the email.  i cannot retrieve
the email from the local machine using Ximian Evolution (version
1.4.6).  however if i use good ole  #mail in a terminal it access the
file and reads all emails. also as an added twist if i type in an
incorrect email for the receiving email server it fails to login. 
however if i change it back it gets pass the login but it just hangs at
retrieving messages.  (again this is all on the local machine)
 
i am sure i am just leaving out a pointer or permissions, or something
crazy like that...

thanks in advance 

Jack Taffar