Can't send email from Outlook 2007 and think router is the culprit

[Byron Followell]

This really doesn't really seem to be an Outlook issue any longer but I can't
send emails like many of the users on here. I can receive emails just fine.
Outlook worked fine before but then I bought a house, moved and changed ISPs.
From that point on, I could only receive emails, not send. I called my new
ISP and they had me jump through all the normal hoops before pointing the
finger at Microsoft or my anti-virus software or a spyware problem or
anything else other than them. None of the Outlook fixes I've found on the
Internet worked either. Then I remembered that, knowing I wouldn't be
prepared to run Cat6 cable all over my new house for a while, I bought a new
wireless router and wireless adapters for the XBox 360 and my Tivo. I knew
the router had a built-in firewall and wondered if it could be the culprit.
Well, I can't make heads or tails out of the archaic firewall terms listed
but nothing I change seems to make any difference. Finally, in frustration, I
just removed my router from the equation and plugged my main computer
straight into my cable modem. Wa la! Now I can send email again. Of course I
can't leave my router unplugged but at least I know what the problem piece of
equipment is, even if I don't know the actual cause. Also, don't let the
whole wireless router part get anyone off on a tangent. The computer I'm
having an issue with is plugged into one of the ports, not connecting
wirelessly.

The text of the error I receive is: "reported error (0x80042109) : Outlook
is unable to connect to your outgoing (SMTP) e-mail server. If you continue
to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet
service provider (ISP)."

I've never had any hardware or software firewall or other router issue that
would block outgoing email traffic out of the box like this. My question is,
does anyone out there know of any ports I should insure are open or any
settings I should look for that might affect outgoing email from Outlook
using default ports?

My system is a dual-boot running Windows XP Home Edition SP2 and Windows
Vista Home Premium. I'm running Office 2007 Enterprise Edition and my router
is a D-Link DGL-4500. I have the same problem and receive the same error
regardless of whether I'm using Outlook Express in Windows XP or Outlook 2007
in Windows Vista.

Any information or advice anyone might be able to provide would be most
appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,
- Byron Followell

 

[K. Orland]

Make sure you're using port 25 for outgoing email. You can also find out if
your provider uses/supports a different port (eg Comcast also supports 587).

Take a look at your security software (AV, firewall, antispam, etc.) for any
integration with Outlook since that can interfere greatly with sending and
receiving.

 

[N. Miller]

The text of the error I receive is: "reported error (0x80042109) : Outlook
is unable to connect to your outgoing (SMTP) e-mail server. If you continue
to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet
service provider (ISP)."

I've never had any hardware or software firewall or other router issue that
would block outgoing email traffic out of the box like this. My question is,
does anyone out there know of any ports I should insure are open or any
settings I should look for that might affect outgoing email from Outlook
using default ports?

My system is a dual-boot running Windows XP Home Edition SP2 and Windows
Vista Home Premium. I'm running Office 2007 Enterprise Edition and my router
is a D-Link DGL-4500. I have the same problem and receive the same error
regardless of whether I'm using Outlook Express in Windows XP or Outlook 2007
in Windows Vista.

Any information or advice anyone might be able to provide would be most
appreciated. Thanks in advance.

It is unusual for a router to block anything outbound out of the box.

Is your ISP cable? What is the IP address you get without the router, and
with the router? Could still be an ISP issue, depending on the IP address
assignment. If the ISP uses an IP ACL to check if you are connecting from
their network, and they forgot to allow access for a new IP address block,
just switching devices on a cable system (in the U.S.A., anyway) can result
in a different IP address assignment.

 

[heintz.larry]

This really doesn't really seem to be an Outlook issue any longer but I can't
send emails like many of the users on here. I can receive emails just fine..
Outlook worked fine before but then I bought a house, moved and changed ISPs.
From that point on, I could only receive emails, not send. I called my new
ISP and they had me jump through all the normal hoops before pointing the
finger at Microsoft or my anti-virus software or a spyware problem or
anything else other than them. None of the Outlook fixes I've found on the
Internet worked either. Then I remembered that, knowing I wouldn't be
prepared to run Cat6 cable all over my new house for a while, I bought a new
wireless router and wireless adapters for the XBox 360 and my Tivo. I knew
the router had a built-in firewall and wondered if it could be the culprit..
Well, I can't make heads or tails out of the archaic firewall terms listed
but nothing I change seems to make any difference. Finally, in frustration, I
just removed my router from the equation and plugged my main computer
straight into my cable modem. Wa la! Now I can send email again. Of courseI
can't leave my router unplugged but at least I know what the problem pieceof
equipment is, even if I don't know the actual cause. Also, don't let the
whole wireless router part get anyone off on a tangent. The computer I'm
having an issue with is plugged into one of the ports, not connecting
wirelessly.

The text of the error I receive is: "reported error (0x80042109) : Outlook
is unable to connect to your outgoing (SMTP) e-mail server.  If you continue
to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet
service provider (ISP)."

I've never had any hardware or software firewall or other router issue that
would block outgoing email traffic out of the box like this. My question is,
does anyone out there know of any ports I should insure are open or any
settings I should look for that might affect outgoing email from Outlook
using default ports?

My system is a dual-boot running Windows XP Home Edition SP2 and Windows
Vista Home Premium. I'm running Office 2007 Enterprise Edition and my router
is a D-Link DGL-4500. I have the same problem and receive the same error
regardless of whether I'm using Outlook Express in Windows XP or Outlook 2007
in Windows Vista.

Any information or advice anyone might be able to provide would be most
appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,
- Byron Followell

Byron,

Did you ask your ISP if they block port 25 (SMPT) from 3rd party
smtp server connections? Like if you are trying to authenticate to a
non-isp email server they might block that connection, but if you are
sending an email from your ISP account out they will not. Also have
you ran a telnet connection to the SMTP server you are trying to
connect to while you are connected to the router and while you are
not? Have you created any new rules/port forwarding in the router? If
you have, write them down and either remove the rules or reselt the
router to factory default. Have you tried to send email with only the
computers hooked up to the router and not the xbox and tivo? Is the
email server you are trying to send mail from located on your network
or outside the network?

Larry

 

[Byron Followell]

Kathleen,

Thanks for the reply. I am using all the default settings on everything. I
should've mentioned this is a brand new computer, just built two days ago.
The only thing installed on it is Windows XP and Vista and Office, period. No
firewalls other than the out of the box Windows versions and no
spam/spyware/av apps at all at this point. Everything about this computer is
out of the box defaults so, yes, I'm certain I'm using port 25. Also, like I
said, when I remove the router, everything works fine. Put the router back in
the loop and sending email no longer works. That tells me it's nothing
whatsoever on my computer and is the router.

Somone else asked if I'd done any port forwarding or anything. I really
haven't done anything elaborate with my router at this point other than
entering the most basic of information to get my access going. I may reset it
to it's default configuration and try again to see if that works.

- Byron

 

[Byron Followell]

Kathleen,

Thanks for the reply. I am using all the default settings on everything. I
should've mentioned this is a brand new computer, just built two days ago.
The only thing installed on it is Windows XP and Vista and Office, period. No
firewalls other than the out of the box Windows versions and no
spam/spyware/av apps at all at this point. Everything about this computer is
out of the box defaults so, yes, I'm certain I'm using port 25. Also, like I
said, when I remove the router, everything works fine. Put the router back in
the loop and sending email no longer works. That tells me it's nothing
whatsoever on my computer and is the router.

Somone else asked if I'd done any port forwarding or anything. I really
haven't done anything elaborate with my router at this point other than
entering the most basic of information to get my access going. I may reset it
to it's default configuration and try again to see if that works.

- Byron

 

[Byron Followell]

Kathleen,

Thanks for the reply. I am using all the default settings on everything. I
should've mentioned this is a brand new computer, just built two days ago.
The only thing installed on it is Windows XP and Vista and Office, period. No
firewalls other than the out of the box Windows versions and no
spam/spyware/av apps at all at this point. Everything about this computer is
out of the box defaults so, yes, I'm certain I'm using port 25. Also, like I
said, when I remove the router, everything works fine. Put the router back in
the loop and sending email no longer works. That tells me it's nothing
whatsoever on my computer and is the router.

Somone else asked if I'd done any port forwarding or anything. I really
haven't done anything elaborate with my router at this point other than
entering the most basic of information to get my access going. I may reset it
to it's default configuration and try again to see if that works.

- Byron

 

[Byron Followell]

Kathleen,

Thanks for the reply. I am using all the default settings on everything. I
should've mentioned this is a brand new computer, just built two days ago.
The only thing installed on it is Windows XP and Vista and Office, period. No
firewalls other than the out of the box Windows versions and no
spam/spyware/av apps at all at this point. Everything about this computer is
out of the box defaults so, yes, I'm certain I'm using port 25. Also, like I
said, when I remove the router, everything works fine. Put the router back in
the loop and sending email no longer works. That tells me it's nothing
whatsoever on my computer and is the router.

Somone else asked if I'd done any port forwarding or anything. I really
haven't done anything elaborate with my router at this point other than
entering the most basic of information to get my access going. I may reset it
to it's default configuration and try again to see if that works.

- Byron

 

[K. Orland]

Is your router connected to the same ISP that you're sending/receiving email
from?
Have you specified your username and password for outgoing email in your
account settings?

 

[Byron Followell]

Kathleen,

Yes, the router is connected to my ISP and my ISP email is the account I'm
having trouble with.

Yes, my account info is entered correctly.

Kathleen, I don't mean to be rude or disrespectful band I certainly
appreciate your efforts to assist me but you seem to be asking me foolish
questions that should be obvious. Maybe I'm missing something or I
misunderstood you. If Outlook can send email whenever I'm not behind the
router, then obviously all of my settings are correct. I doubt that these
settings are mysteriously changing when I move some wires around and go back
behind my router. The issue is obviously (at least to me) in my router. Since
I can connect to and surf the Internet to my heart's content and the only
issue I have is with sending email, I'm assuming the issue must be something
very specific.

Thanks for your attempts to help me. I really appreciate it.

Sincerely,
- Byron Followell

 

[Byron Followell]

OK, I am back in business again after messing with this for many weeks. Just
as I suspected, my new router was the issue. For some reason, when initially
running the setup disc, my computer's MAC address didn't clone properly. I
could do anything and everything I wanted to do on the Internet (so far
anyway) except for sending email. I spoke with a tech and he suspected this
was the issue. He asked me to go into my router's setup and click on the big
clone PCs MAC address button. When I told him the MAC address changed, he
knew he was right. I rebooted my router and now everything is right with the
world again or at least me sending email.

Thanks again to everyone that offered suggestions and tried to help.

Sincerely,
- Byron Followell

 

[bennie]

HOLLY BUT IT WAS A BASA

Kathleen,

Thanks for the reply. I am using all the default settings on everything. I
should've mentioned this is a brand new computer, just built two days ago.
The only thing installed on it is Windows XP and Vista and Office, period.
No
firewalls other than the out of the box Windows versions and no
spam/spyware/av apps at all at this point. Everything about this computer
is
out of the box defaults so, yes, I'm certain I'm using port 25. Also, like
I
said, when I remove the router, everything works fine. Put the router back
in
the loop and sending email no longer works. That tells me it's nothing
whatsoever on my computer and is the router.

Somone else asked if I'd done any port forwarding or anything. I really
haven't done anything elaborate with my router at this point other than
entering the most basic of information to get my access going. I may reset
it
to it's default configuration and try again to see if that works.

- Byron

 

[K. Orland]

The reason I was asking such basic questions of you was to cover off the
obvious first. Most of the questions we get here are questions that are
answered on a daily basis. You have to realize we can't presume to know
anyone's knowledge level from a post or two.