Can't send email

[wink wink]

Okay here is the situation, my better half is in a foriegn country with a laptop, everything was fine up until yesterday when he couldn't send emails. He has no problem receiving them just can't send out. He has a hotmail account and can't send through outlook and also when he accesses it through the web. Any ideas. It was fine until he went to a different country for the weekend and had a different access number then the one he was using in the other country. He has no "premanent" internet provider, he just connects to internet via local access numbers. I have read somewhere that the "outgoing mail (SMTP) should be set at 25 but we can't find where this setting is as his one and only email account is an HTTP?

Any and all help much appreciated.

[Front_Seat_Dreamer]

Seems like an obvious answer but why not log on to the Hotmail website and send through there.

Some service providers will only let you send mail if you are logged on to their network e.g. if you are trying to send a reply to a freeserve account then you must be dialled in to a freeserve number or the mail stays in your inbox, this could also be your problem

[wink wink]

he can't send via outlook and can't send via the hotmail website. It has been working fine for the last month via a local access number for the country he is in, then he went to another country and used a different access number for this country and that is when the problem begin.

[Front_Seat_Dreamer]

What about trying a new Hotmail account? or another webbased one like yahoo, talk21 or similar?

Can you send using his account from here?

[wink wink]

yes he has tried that. I am pretty sure that the problem is that somehow the SMTP port has been changed to 0 instead of 25. In the error message he recieves it says that the smtp port is 0. The problem is as the only email account he has set up is a http account I can't find the spot on his computer where I can change the port number.

[wink wink]

something happened when he went to second country. There were no problems in first country. Arriving in second country got hold of access number entered number in computer to connect and this is when the problem arrived since that point he can not send messages. When he tries to send he gets a message that says something about server blah blah smtp,port 0, secure ssl no, and then an error number.

he recieves messages no problem???

What could have happened how to fix........................

[wink wink]

okay a bit of update....

got him set up with my pop3 mail account works no problem. but he still can't do anything with an http account? He is now saying that yahoo won't accept his user name and password?

Anyone ever heard of such probs before?

[wink wink]

I need to update my update. I have a pop3 email account which i can use so many alias... so I set one up for him and yes he can send me messages but he can't send to anyone else.

what the **** is going on? I can't understand.

[wink wink]

sorry to keep throwing this in everyones face but getting desperate, anyone have any help or ideas? Anyone ever hear of this sort of thing happening before?

[25F]

The Devil is in the detail, you might say. Computers are like that. Wink wink, you might get more help if you tell us exactly what version of Outlook (Express ?) is being used, which OS, and what is "server blah blah smtp,port 0"? What is the "second country" and who is providing the access number?

Have a look at this for various links and tips:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinME/Q_20731635.html

And this "how-to":
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;220852

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

wink wink,

Hotmail is not very reliable anymore. I have heard of many problems with it going down and emails being delayed for up to a couple hours before they are delivered.

From your posts in this thread, it sounds like your better half has not tried to use the browser function from hotmail for sending and receiving email. If he/she were using the browser, there would be no need for SMTP.

If he/she wanted to use Hotmail in OL or OLE, he/she would be using the POP3 service. Downloading the email via POP3 is simple, because the account settings do not change, no matter where you. Sending email is a different story. You need the SMTP information from the ISP he/she is currently logged on to the internet in order to send email. That ISP might even require him/her to use the current user name and password for the account he/she is logged on to the internet with, when sending email though their servers if the email name he/she is using (in this case his hotmail address) is different from the account he/she used to log on to the net. (I know it sounds confusing. Let me make up an example.)

His/Hers Email Account we will call: [email protected]

The ISP he/her is currently at we will call: www.northpole.com

Username/password for this ISP we will call: Santa/Clause

Since he/she has an account at this ISP they would give him an email account (whether he uses it or not): [email protected]

SMTP for this ISP we will call: smtp.northpole.com

Ok, so your better half is logged on to the internet though the www.northpole.com ISP. He/She wants to send email via his/hers hotmail using the POP3/SMTP. In OL or OLE you need to have the SMTP info for this ISP entered for outgoing mail, in this case smtp.northpole.com. If when he/she sends the email a popup asked for username and password, it is not asking for the username and password for the [email protected], it is asking for the one at that ISP, since the ISP can tell the email is being sent by [email protected] and not from [email protected]. So to verify who is sending email they ask for the user name and password, which in this case is santa/clause.

There are other options, and hotmail does not need to be used at all. Most ISPs offer web based email access from anywhere in the world. Your home ISP should have a way to log on from anywhere and send and receive email though a browser. Then you do not need to use hotmail at all. If that is not an option from your ISP, then try another browser based email provider like yahoo.co.uk just so he/she has a backup to keep in touch with you.

Take Care,

Richard

[wink wink]

Sorry for lack of detail

brand new Dell inspirion laptop, the os is xp, using IE for internet and uses outlook express 6. He is in Bahrain his frist 2-3 weeks there was able to send and recieve email from a hotmail account via outlook. He was connecting using a inet900 access card. A provider in Bahrain with which you just type in connection number and connect to internet. Over the weekend went to Emirates. In the emirates used the same service from emirates.net.ae Since that time he can only recieve email and not send it. Now he is back in bahrain with same inet900 card.

His problem is not accesses it is sending. he can get on hotmail and he can get mail from our ISP here at home but he is completely unable to send.

We have re configured his setting in outlook numerous times and it does nothing?:confused:

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

wink wink,

Have him get the SMTP Settings from the ISP and put them in the send mail section of OLE. If not, just use the IE Browser to log in for email. He will be able to send from the IE Brower.

Take Care,

Richard

[wink wink]

Surprise surprise Richard he can't do it through hotmail or yahoo!!!

[Front_Seat_Dreamer]

Something that has occurred to me.

Has he installed any antivirus or firewall software recently? One of these could be blocking the sending of any mail.

I am pretty sure that you are way off track with the port no but if you want to change it then go into OE - Tools - Accounts - Mail tab - Choose the account - properties - advanced here you can change it. The reason I think this is not the problem is that is is impossible to put 0 in this box.

Try another web based mail account than Hotmail / Yahoo as they are both really crap at the moment. Try setting up an account with a mobile phone co or similar.

[wink wink]

that was our next attempt he has norton anti virus on it he has disabled email scanning but now has run out of patience trying to get onto hotmail with slow connection (phone line) and will try it tomorrow.

The prob with a hotmail account useing outlook is that it is a http server and there is no advanced tab with this sort account.

Let you guys know if it was the anti virus program tomorrow. Thanks for everyones input to this ever strange problem and I am sure there will be more updates..............:mad:

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

wink wink,

Do to where he is, could the ISP be blocking those email providers? The rest of the world is not as free in their daily lives as we are.

See if he can use someone else's computer to send a test email via the hotmail and yahoo accounts. I want to narrow the problem down to either his computer or the ISP itself.

I am just wondering if any email sent though that ISP is not blocked?

Take Care,

Richard

[25F]

Richard, Outlook Express provides HTTP support for Hotmail accounts, and in any case the Bahraini inet900 service doesn't support SMTP:
http://www.inet.com.bh/InetServices/connect.asp#inet900

So, unfortunately, all that POP3/SMTP stuff doesn't apply in this case. (Why the error message mentions SMTP port 0 when it's meant to be using HTTP, I have no idea).

I wonder if the Bahraini telco is using a "transparent" HTTP proxy. This can cause problems for Hotmail, I believe. Here's a description (for Mac users):
http://www3.sympatico.ca/alxs/hotmail/index2.html

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

25F,

That explains a good part of the problem. Now to figure out why using IE, he cannot send though Hotmail or Yahoo. (He has tried using Internet Explorer to sent email, without using Outlook Express, right wink wink?)

I would still like to see what happens on someone else's computer, when he tries to send a test email though the Internet Explorer (with Hotmail and Yahoo).

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. wink wink, if he still has a problem sending email and we cannot solve it in the new day or so, I will setup an email account for him on my email server, which he can access though a brower, and keep in touch with you.

[wink wink]

i think the problem is now a bit beyond just sending emails. It seems be something with passwords. When he tries to sign on to hotmail or yahoo, his password is rejected. He has had his friends try to log onto their accounts and their passwords are regected. Yet he can log onto pprune no problem with his password there. He is also able to log unto msn messenger with the same username and password as his hotmail account.

He is now going to get all updates from windows has updated virus and then clean and defrag his system then run virus scan.

The password thing I find very odd.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

wink wink,

Also have him run:

Trend Micro's Housecall (http://housecall.trendmicro.com)

The payload of some viruses disables installed Anti Virus programs, so it looks like they are scanning your system, when in reality they are doing nothing. At least with the Browser Scan from Housecall, you know you are getting one good scan of his system.

Take Care,

Richard

[wink wink]

He did the virus scan from trend micro and there was nothing detected. Did everything else I post earlier and still the same.

I give up....... He is trying to find someone to look at it where he is, I am just very curious as to what the cause is.

Thanks everyone for your advice and input very much appreciated.

WW

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

wink wink,

Sorry to hear you are giving up. The offer is still there for an email account on my mail server if you want to give it a try.

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. With all the time he has spent trying to get email working, it might be worth just doing a clean install of his Operating System.

[wink wink]

He was speaking of re installing outlook and explorer. What would you recommend, the whole o/s or just the other 2 problems?

We will remember your offer for an email account if we ever get that far. I think he is just getting really frustrated sitting in his hotel room trying to fix the f'en thing with no results.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

wink wink,

Give the reinstall of IE and OL give it a try. If that does not work, then I would do the complete install of the OS.

Take Care,

Richard