AOL and error 0x8004210B, won't send from outbox

[Brad Mitchell via OfficeKB.com]

Setup: XP Professional, Norton Internet Security Professional, Norton Antivirus 2004 Professional, AOL, Office 2003 Professional, Stand-alone PC.

Just got office 2003 and decided to actually try to use Outlook vs AOL Communicator so I setup my email accounts per Microsoft instructions for use of the IMAP inbound accounts (I have two) and SMTP outbound.

I can receive mail from the aol accounts fine in the IMAP folders but I cannot send anything out via Outlook. Create new messages and specify which account to associate the message with, but the messages never leave the Outbox!

Receive error message:
"Task - xxx Sending' reported error (0x8004210B): The operation timed out waiting for a response from the sending (SMTP) server. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or ISP"

I have disabled both Norton products (simultaneously, individually) and searched MS KB as well as Symantec boards but have not found a satisfactory solution. Many references ... but often with a MS Exchange server / 2002 combo that doesn't seem applicable. Have also tried deleting and recreating the mail accounts.

Can anyone provide assistance? Thanks.

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Since AOL is pretty new to Outlook and most of us shun AOL, you might want
to have a look at their pages for assistance.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my personal
account will be deleted without reading.

After furious head scratching, Brad Mitchell via OfficeKB.com asked:

| Setup: XP Professional, Norton Internet Security Professional, Norton
| Antivirus 2004 Professional, AOL, Office 2003 Professional,
| Stand-alone PC.
|
| Just got office 2003 and decided to actually try to use Outlook vs
| AOL Communicator so I setup my email accounts per Microsoft
| instructions for use of the IMAP inbound accounts (I have two) and
| SMTP outbound.
|
| I can receive mail from the aol accounts fine in the IMAP folders but
| I cannot send anything out via Outlook. Create new messages and
| specify which account to associate the message with, but the messages
| never leave the Outbox!
|
| Receive error message:
| "Task - xxx Sending' reported error (0x8004210B): The operation timed
| out waiting for a response from the sending (SMTP) server. If you
| continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator
| or ISP"
|
| I have disabled both Norton products (simultaneously, individually)
| and searched MS KB as well as Symantec boards but have not found a
| satisfactory solution. Many references ... but often with a MS
| Exchange server / 2002 combo that doesn't seem applicable. Have also
| tried deleting and recreating the mail accounts.
|
| Can anyone provide assistance? Thanks.

 

[Michael S. Meyers-Jouan]

You mention that you followed the Microsoft instructions for setting up an
IMAP mailbox. Have you checked AOL's instructions?

AOL REQUIRES that you change the port used for outbound messages. Select
"Tools", "E-mail Accounts", "View or change existing e-mail accounts" and
select the account you created for AOL. Click the "Change" button, then
click the "More Settings" button. Go to the "Advanced" tab, and change the
"Outgoing server (SMTP)" value to "587".

Mike

 

[Brad Mitchell via OfficeKB.com]

AOL's instructions are the same as MS instructions. Port had been changed to 587, email accounts configured as specifed by AOL, AOL was called (and bailed out to MS). MS KB pages were diligently searched and nothing quite seemed to hit the situation I am having.

 

[Brad Mitchell via OfficeKB.com]

AOL instructions were the first stopping place. When difficulty was encountered, they were called. But (not surprisingly) they couldn't offer any assistance because it wasn't their software that was having "the problem".
re: most shun AOL .... will not attempt to justify it's use in this forum, just trying to get things to work.

 

[Andreas Roeder]

Hi Brad,
read
http://mitglied.lycos.de/bravestar2004/phpBB2-2.0.10-deutsch/viewtopic.php?t=141

--
Ich habe nichts gemacht, gestern gings noch
(e-mail address removed)
Join me in my Forum @
http://mitglied.lycos.de/bravestar2004

AOL's instructions are the same as MS instructions. Port had been changed

to 587, email accounts configured as specifed by AOL, AOL was called (and
bailed out to MS). MS KB pages were diligently searched and nothing quite
seemed to hit the situation I am having.

 

[Brad Mitchell via OfficeKB.com]

Thanks Andreas (and everyone else who responded). The problem is solved .... but like Dorothy I had the answer myself all along.

I tried Andreas' regedit suggestion ... still didn't work. So I (once again) deleted and re-created the email accounts as I had been doing them .... still didn't work. Then I tried changing the one thing that I had kept consistent throughout all my travails and that I "knew" didn't matter.

In the "Logon Information" for username and password, I had been keeping the "Remember password" box un-checked and allowing Outlook to prompt me for the password on startup. This merely due to my personal preference of not leaving passwords "lying around". In any event, I now checked the "remember password" box and dutifully typed in my password and re-tried the send. Lo and behold, things left my outbox.

Wanting to close out the test scenarios, I closed outlook, went back into regedit and removed what Andreas had suggested and reopened Outlook. And sent a message successfully. Only oddity I have since discovered is that it won't allow a "send to self", which really isn't that odd .... why do you need to send an email to yourself (unless you're trouble-shooting an issue ;-) )

Thanks again to all who responded.