Inbox working, Outbox broken

[NicoleinPDX]

This morning I have been receiving email in my inbox, but my outbox appears
to be broken. Outgoing mail piles up and whenever I try to send it I get an
error message. I can manually delete messages out of the outbox, so it is
not the problems with "stuck" outgoing messages (although I did experience
that problem a few months ago). Any suggestions for how to get my outbox
working again???

 

[NicoleinPDX]

Here is the error message I receive when trying to manually send mail that is
piling up in the outbox (should have probably included this in my original
post -- sorry!)

The connection to the server has failed. Subject 'Re: Sock Hop Help',
Account: 'mail.comcast.net', Server: 'smtp.comcast.net', Protocol: SMTP,
Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

 

[Guest]

This morning I have been receiving email in my inbox, but my outbox
appears
to be broken. Outgoing mail piles up and whenever I try to send it I get
an
error message. I can manually delete messages out of the outbox, so it is
not the problems with "stuck" outgoing messages (although I did experience
that problem a few months ago). Any suggestions for how to get my outbox
working again???

Click on the error message and copy the full error message to your next
message.

 

[Guest]

Here is the error message I receive when trying to manually send mail that
is
piling up in the outbox (should have probably included this in my original
post -- sorry!)

The connection to the server has failed. Subject 'Re: Sock Hop Help',
Account: 'mail.comcast.net', Server: 'smtp.comcast.net', Protocol: SMTP,
Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

A number of Comcast users have been having similar problems lately.
Comcast seems to be trying to make all their users switch from port 25
to port 587 for outgoing mail, without being good at telling users they
are doing this. Make sure you follow the part of these instructions that
is other than just changing the port number.

<http://www.comcast.net/help/faq/index.jsp?faq=EmailOutlook18914&cookieattempt=1>

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Go to Tools, Accounts, select the Comcast account, Properties, Servers,
enable the "My server requires authentication" option.
Then go to the Advanced tab and change the outgoing port from 25
to 587. Try sending. If you get a new error message, post it here.

 

[gaily]

:
Thank you Robert Miles! I followed your instructions and finally got rid of
those pesky error messages and left over emails...why not make error messages
that can be understood by mortals? Thanks again for your help;->

 

[Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM]

Here is the error message I receive when trying to manually send mail that
is
piling up in the outbox (should have probably included this in my original
post -- sorry!)

The connection to the server has failed. Subject 'Re: Sock Hop Help',
Account: 'mail.comcast.net', Server: 'smtp.comcast.net', Protocol: SMTP,
Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

According to
http://www.comcast.net/help/faq/index.jsp?faq=EmailOutlook_Express17686
your outgoing (SMTP) server should be
smtp.comcast.net

 

[NicoleinPDX]

Dear Gary VanderMolen,

You are a WIZARD! Can you tell me why changing the outgoing port # from 25
to 587 was necessary? I had previously tried enabling the "my server
requires authentication" option and it made no difference. However, the
outgoing port # change was like magic. I like to believe in magic -- but I
also like to know why magic works!

Thank you for your assistance. Enjoy the rest of your day.

 

[Guest]

You're welcome. Many email providers put their better people to writing
instructions to put on their web site, instead of answering the phone.
Comcast may have a shortage of those better people, if they decided to
do this also.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Mail servers are a highly technical operation. I don't see how
we can make the inner workings obvious to the average user.
If you could, us experts would be unemployed. :-(

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Comcast has always offered port 587 as an alternate to port 25,
but I hear that they are starting to make it mandatory.

Mail providers are starting to shift away from port 25 use.
Port 25 SMTP is becoming more and more an anachronism.
For the reason why, see
http://www.postcastserver.com/help/Port_25_Blocking.aspx

 

[BobF.]

Actually he's got a point. There's no reason why the error message should
be so encrypted. But we all know why. In program development the
pathological cases (failure mode mitigation) are usually the last to get
coded in and then the error messages are added. Some are done early for the
benefit of the developer and others are added just because they are written
in the requirements document to do so, by someone with foresight. A very
difficult task but in any case, it is entirely possible to do. It's just a
development attitude and discipline. The real story is, once you are passed
the debug and configuration, the messages are dead weight, blot ware. So
the developer/manufacturer has a dilemma and sometimes the message levels
are guessed wrong.