cant add gmail account to ipad2

[joeyteel]

IMAP accounts are normally set up to Push. That means the server controls when email is pushed to the iPad. You can't set an interval for this, because it's instant.

However you can turn Push off, either for all mail or a single account.

You do this under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch new Data. The Push on off switch turns off push for all accounts. This leaves you with the timed Fetch, which is also set here. The options are 15 min, 30 min, 1 hr, or manual. Manual will only fetch mail when you open the Mail app, or tap update when the Mail app is open.

If you want to select between Push or Fetch for an individual account tap the Advanced option. Not all account types offer Push as an option.

Actually, IMAP accounts don't use push, at least not in the sense you're thinking. They actually use a special IDLE command to keep the connection open to get instant notifications of new mail if the server supports it. The iPad's client actually does this badly as it will only use IDLE while it's open but falls back to polling (fetch) mode when the client is closed. If the mail app is closed or if the server doesn't support IDLE it uses the normal fetch settings.