ISP Stumped

[Guest]

I have started receiving the following message from Outlook when
send/receiving email.
Task 'email account name' - Receiving' reported error (0x80042110): 'Your
POP3 server is providing inconsistent information. the number of messages
returned by the STAT command does not match the number of items returned by
the UIDL or LIST commands. Contact your POP3 or Internet service provider.'

I have 4 email account with this ISP and only receiving this message with
two of the account. The other two are working ok. This is only on receiving
email - I am able to send. I have worked with ISP removing and reinstalling
accounts but nothing changed. They have given up saying they cannot find the
problem and the support does not support Outlook, only Outlook Express. Can
anyone help me direct them as to what the problem is and how to fix it?

 

[Brian Tillman]

I have started receiving the following message from Outlook when
send/receiving email.
Task 'email account name' - Receiving' reported error (0x80042110):
'Your POP3 server is providing inconsistent information. the number
of messages returned by the STAT command does not match the number of
items returned by the UIDL or LIST commands. Contact your POP3 or
Internet service provider.'

That does sound like a server problem. You can verify, though, by doing
what Outlook does. Open a command line window and enter:

telnet yourmailserver 110

where "yourmailserver" is the fully qualified domain name of your ISP's mail
server, like:

telnet pop.bigisp.net 110

You should get in response, a header like this:

+OK BigISP POP3 server version 1.2.3 (pop.bigisp.net) ready.

Now sign in:

user yourusername <- enter the word "user" followed by your username
+OK <- this is what the POP server will answer
pass yourpassword <- enter the word "pass" followed by your
(nonechoing) password
+OK User successfully logged on. <- this is that the server will answer

Now enter the STAT command:

stat <- what you type
+OK 28 3894963 <- what the server answers

The above says there are 28 messages waiting and they occupy 3,894,963
bytes.

Now enter the LIST command:

list <-you type
+OK 28 3894963 <- the server answers. This should agree with above
1 3528
2 6395
3 5012
4 4437
5 4653
6 1969
7 4507
8 3138796
9 2220
10 4213
11 4722
12 4367
13 4808
14 1528
15 416825
16 2771
17 222566
18 21634
19 2018
20 5042
21 3059
22 2476
23 2963
24 2642
25 4597
26 7912
27 4452
28 4851
..

This shows the individual message sizes. The period at the ent signifies
the end of the list. Now enter the UIDL command:

+OK
1 AAQp7XDAAAw9KTngVcEVle0f9x58eIXE
2 AAQYySLAAAw9KTngVcEVle0f9x58eIXE
3 AAQd4RBAAAwgUYSVaGZerK0bQSQBHobw
4 AAwl4RBAAAwgUYSVaGZerK0bQSQBHobw
5 AAwD5RBAAAwgUYSVaGZerK0bQSQBHobw
6 AAQFrHAAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
7 AAg9rHAAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
8 AAwxsHAAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
9 AAAduoDAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
10 AAwLJyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
11 AAgMKyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
12 AAgNKyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
13 AAwNKyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
14 AAgBLyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
15 AAQkLyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
16 AAQtLyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
17 AAgzLyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
18 AAg0LyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
19 AAA6LyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
20 AAgeMyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
21 AAQiMyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
22 AAgkMyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
23 AAAlMyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
24 AAQlMyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
25 AAwlMyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
26 AAgnMyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
27 AAwnMyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
28 AAQpMyHAAAws9+EpFOGeaekPtBmYfIFq
..

This should also agree in number with what the LIST command shows. You can
use this information to prove or not whether the error message is accurate.
Finally, close your POP session:

quit <-what you type
+OK BigISP POP3 server version 1.2.3 signing off. <- what the server
answers.

I hope this helps.

 

[Guest]

Brian -
Thanks for the help. I did what you suggested and everything indicated the
same number of messages. Got 83 messages shown for each command. So does
this indicate I have an Outlook poroblem? Any suggestion on where I could go
from here?

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks for the help. I did what you suggested and everything
indicated the same number of messages. Got 83 messages shown for
each command. So does this indicate I have an Outlook poroblem? Any
suggestion on where I could go from here?

Apparently your ISP's server is self-consistent, so something on your
machine seems out-of-whack. If I were in your shoes, I'd create a new mail
profile, point ot at your current PST, and recreate your accounts in the new
profile.

 

[Jeff Stephenson [MSFT]]

I don't agree - the code that would be generating that error does not use
any values that would be held in a profile. Could you turn on diagnostic
logging (see
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q300479) and post
the OPMLog.log file (preferably as an attachment) after you get this error?
I'd like to see just what it is that Outlook is complaining about.

 

[JPMcGowan]

Apologies if you have already found an answer to your problem. I had
this problem a while ago and I resolved it by removing a corrupt email
from my mail servers mailbox. The problem is finding the corrupt
message. A starting point would be to look for messages that are dated
around the time the problem started.

John.

I have started receiving the following message from Outlook when
send/receiving email.
Task 'email account name' - Receiving' reported error (0x80042110): 'Your
POP3 server is providing inconsistent information. the number of messages
returned by the STAT command does not match the number of items returned by
the UIDL or LIST commands. Contact your POP3 or Internet service provider.'

I have 4 email account with this ISP and only receiving this message with
two of the account. The other two are working ok. This is only on receiving
email - I am able to send. I have worked with ISP removing and reinstalling
accounts but nothing changed. They have given up saying they cannot find the
problem and the support does not support Outlook, only Outlook Express. Can
anyone help me direct them as to what the problem is and how to fix

it?