I had a problem with Log4j version 1.2.15 where after adding a Log4j dependency, maven would try to download dependencies like java mail, jmx etc. The download never seem to finish as it is from some external repository. I am not sure if it was a temporary problem. I figured the problem was version 1.2.15 when I looked at the pom of that version and I could see some dependencies with specific repository.
Migrating to version 1.2.14 seem to fix this problem.