Can't send e-mail from laptop

  • Thread starter Thread starter mazorj
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mazorj

I'm getting the following error message when Windows Mail (Vista 64 Home
Premium SP1) tries to send e-mails from my laptop:

The connection to the server has failed. Subject ..., Account:
'verizon.net', Server: 'outgoing.verizon.net', Protocol: SMTP, Port: 587,
Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

Downloading incoming mail is not a problem, and I obviously can post to
newsgroups. Although this is a new problem, I turned off Norton's checking
of outgoing mail - no change. Verizon had us change to Port 587 last year
so that's not the issue either.

WM does send e-mail from my desktop so apparently the problem is specific to
the laptop. Any ideas?
 
That problem can be caused by interference from an antivirus program.
Which antivirus are you running?
As a minimum, email scanning in the antivirus should be turned off,
although that may not be sufficient to eliminate all bad effects.
In a worst case scenario, your antivirus may need to be uninstalled.

Email scanning in any antivirus should be disabled, for reasons
explained here:
http://thundercloud.net/infoave/tutorials/email-scanning/index.htm

As a possible temporary fix, delete that corrupted mail account,
restart Windows Mail, then recreate the account.

If no improvement after disabling email scanning, consider upgrading
to Windows Live Mail, because it is less prone to suffering bad effects
from overly intrusive antivirus programs:
http://download.live.com/wlmail
 
Gary,

As noted, I'm using Norton - on both my laptop and desktop. Desktop can
send e-mails, laptop can't. Have turned off all Norton e-mail checking on
the laptop, no help. The desktop sends e-mails even with the Norton inbound
and outbound scanning still running.

Tried deleting and recreating the Account for Verizon - no help.

The link was informative but not productive, since turning off e-mail
scanning did nothing.

Since it's a Socket error specific to the laptop (as described in my OP
below), is there anything to pursue down that avenue? Some corrupted file
related to the e-mail function?


That problem can be caused by interference from an antivirus program.
Which antivirus are you running?
As a minimum, email scanning in the antivirus should be turned off,
although that may not be sufficient to eliminate all bad effects.
In a worst case scenario, your antivirus may need to be uninstalled.

Email scanning in any antivirus should be disabled, for reasons
explained here:
http://thundercloud.net/infoave/tutorials/email-scanning/index.htm

As a possible temporary fix, delete that corrupted mail account,
restart Windows Mail, then recreate the account.

If no improvement after disabling email scanning, consider upgrading
to Windows Live Mail, because it is less prone to suffering bad effects
from overly intrusive antivirus programs:
http://download.live.com/wlmail
 
Sorry, my standard reply for that issue did not address the fact that
you had already given me your antivirus information.
Antivirus-related issues are extremely variable. Just because it works
perfectly on your desktop is no guarantee of 100% compatibility with
Windows Mail on a different PC or even a different user or different
mail account on the same PC.

Norton security products are among the top three troublemakers for
Windows Mail. You've already tried the easiest solution, disabling the
email scanning. You didn't say if you tried my next suggestion,
delete that mail account, restart Windows Mail, then recreate the account.

Disabling Norton's email scanning is sometimes insufficient. If so,
do a trial uninstall, followed by using their debris removal tool:
http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

Socket errors are too general to be of much use in troubleshooting.
 
Gary,

Thanks. Although I'll be surprised if it works, I'll try an uninstall of
Norton and their clean-up link should be particularly useful... but slow
down, man!

This is twice that you've missed important points in my posts. As I said, I
did delete the Verizon account, (close WM) and recreate it from scratch.

If that MVP treadmill you're running on to answer queries on goes any
faster, you're liable to hurt yourself! :-)


Sorry, my standard reply for that issue did not address the fact that
you had already given me your antivirus information.
Antivirus-related issues are extremely variable. Just because it works
perfectly on your desktop is no guarantee of 100% compatibility with
Windows Mail on a different PC or even a different user or different
mail account on the same PC.

Norton security products are among the top three troublemakers for
Windows Mail. You've already tried the easiest solution, disabling the
email scanning. You didn't say if you tried my next suggestion,
delete that mail account, restart Windows Mail, then recreate the account.

Disabling Norton's email scanning is sometimes insufficient. If so,
do a trial uninstall, followed by using their debris removal tool:
http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

Socket errors are too general to be of much use in troubleshooting.
 
Let us know what happens.
You're right; in my haste to help as many users as possible, I often
post boilerplate responses, parts of which may be redundant for
a specific user.
 
Well, folks here's the rather amazing resolution. I checked the Account
settings on my desktop, which still was sending e-mail. The outgoing SMTP
port was set to 25! So I did the same on the laptop and voila! it now sends
e-mail.

The mystery is not why my desktop was set to 25. I had done a complete
system restore a month ago and, unnoticed by me, it defaulted back to port
25 for WM. Lucky for me that it happened and that port 25 was still working
for Verizon. If I had "updated" it to 587, I'd still be down in the weeds,
uninstalling Norton and tearing out what little hair I have left.

The question is, what happened to Verizon's switch to port 587 and all their
dire warnings last year to make the switch? Why is their server still
accepting port 25, and why did port 587 stop working a few days ago?

Follow-up question: My security daemons are not quite off the hook yet. I
need to see if anything - Norton, the router, whatever - is somehow blocking
port 587. More on that if I can figure out how to check that. Suggestions
welcome from anyone who knows about such things.


Sorry, my standard reply for that issue did not address the fact that
you had already given me your antivirus information.
Antivirus-related issues are extremely variable. Just because it works
perfectly on your desktop is no guarantee of 100% compatibility with
Windows Mail on a different PC or even a different user or different
mail account on the same PC.

Norton security products are among the top three troublemakers for
Windows Mail. You've already tried the easiest solution, disabling the
email scanning. You didn't say if you tried my next suggestion,
delete that mail account, restart Windows Mail, then recreate the account.

Disabling Norton's email scanning is sometimes insufficient. If so,
do a trial uninstall, followed by using their debris removal tool:
http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

Socket errors are too general to be of much use in troubleshooting.
 
It's a mystery, alright. As far as we know, Verizon does support port 587.
 
Here is a bit more of the mystery. I use Verizon to send and receive
messages using accounts from a domain name I have. One account (email
address) works, but another for the same domain name does not send. I have
compared settings and I see no difference. I am using port 25 for the one
that works.

I have not investigated this thoroughly; one possibility that I need to
eliminate is the SPF records, but as far as I know, the SPF records apply to
the entire domain. Otherwise it is a mystery to me why one email address
works and the other for the same domain does not.

I am not asking for help with that (yet); just adding a comment.
 
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