Connection to server failed - SMTP

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bgateley
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:19 pm

Connection to server failed - SMTP

Post by bgateley »

I am trying to set up Windows Live Mail on Windows 7 to access our MailEnable server from a remote location. I can receive e-mail fine, but cannot send. I am using the exact same settings as a local computer, which can send fine. The SMTP logs do not show any activity from my remote location. The error message I am getting is:

The connection to the server has failed.

Subject 'Weekly performance report'
Server: '69.130.232.210'
Windows Live Mail Error ID: 0x800CCC0E
Protocol: SMTP
Port: 25
Secure(SSL): No
Socket Error: 10060

Can anyone help, please?

MailEnable-Ian
Site Admin
Posts: 9738
Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 4:44 am
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Re: Connection to server failed - SMTP

Post by MailEnable-Ian »

Hi,

From within a Windows command prompt on the Windows 7 client machine are you able to perform a telnet test and connect to the MailEnable SMTP service? Here is more information in regards to the telnet test: http://www.mailenable.com/kb/Content/Ar ... D=me020207
Regards,

Ian Margarone
MailEnable Support

bgateley
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:19 pm

Re: Connection to server failed - SMTP

Post by bgateley »

Hi Ian, thanks for responding.

Telnet from the remote Windows 7 machine fails: "Could not open connection to the host..."
Telnet from a machine on the local network succeeds.
Telnet from the remote machine to a different port (FTP - 21) succeeds.
I checked the port forwarding on the router and it is sending port 25, TCP & UDP to the MailEnable server.
I am using the actual IP address of the server, rather than the domain name, so it shouldn't have anything to do with messed up MX records.
I tried Whitelisting my remote address in the SMTP settings in MailEnable, didn't help.

Any ideas?

MailEnable-Ian
Site Admin
Posts: 9738
Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 4:44 am
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Re: Connection to server failed - SMTP

Post by MailEnable-Ian »

Hi,

Try and disable the Windows firewall on the Windows 7 machine under: administrative tools > Services and then try the telnet test again.
Regards,

Ian Margarone
MailEnable Support

bgateley
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:19 pm

Re: Connection to server failed - SMTP

Post by bgateley »

No luck, I disabled it on both the remote and the server and still couldn't connect.

MailEnable-Ian
Site Admin
Posts: 9738
Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 4:44 am
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Re: Connection to server failed - SMTP

Post by MailEnable-Ian »

Hi,

I am able to telnet to '69.130.232.210', so the problem will definitely be client related. Does the client machine have any Anti virus programs running in the background? If so make sure email scanning is turned off.
Regards,

Ian Margarone
MailEnable Support

bgateley
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:19 pm

Re: Connection to server failed - SMTP

Post by bgateley »

Hi Ian,

I use MS Security Essentials on the server, which doesn't seem to have a specific e-mail scanner. I did try turning off "real-time protection", but it didn't make any difference. DId you connect with Telnet using port 25? I went through all the MailEnable options I could find that might have anything to do with it and couldn't find anything. I tried changing the SMTP port to 525 just to see if that did anything, but I couldn't get through on that either. The router log does show that my Telnet attempts are getting that far. Do you know if Windows has any utilities that would tell me if the requests are actually getting to that computer?

Thanks for your help!
Brian

bgateley
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:19 pm

Re: Connection to server failed - SMTP

Post by bgateley »

Correction, the router log does NOT show my attempts to get in on port 25, it DOES show attempts on port 110

bgateley
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:19 pm

Re: Connection to server failed - SMTP

Post by bgateley »

Progress! Since the router didn't appear to be getting my requests I wondered if by any wild chance my ISP was blocking port 25...did a Google search on it and sure enough, they do, the rats. So I changed the SMTP port in MailEnable to a different one and am now able to connect via Telnet. I'm still not able to send e-mails, though, and the MailEnable SMTP activity log shows a "503 Bad sequence of commands" from my IP address. Can you tell me what that would mean? I'm using Windows Live Mail on the client.

bgateley
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:19 pm

Re: Connection to server failed - SMTP

Post by bgateley »

Okay, now it looks like nobody is able to receive e-mail through MailEnable. I ran the diagnostics and the Inbound SMTP Bindings Test shows "Warning - No SMTP Server was detected at this IP Address." Could changing the port do that? I'm still able to Telnet in to the new port, 587. Please help!

bgateley
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:19 pm

Re: Connection to server failed - SMTP

Post by bgateley »

All problems solved. Changed the SMTP port back to 25 but set the Alternate Port to Listen On to 587...worked like a charm!

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