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Sent emails not received at specific address. This one's a brain teaser!

Discussion in 'Firefox, Thunderbird & SeaMonkey' started by MinnesotaMike, 2009/03/18.

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  1. 2009/03/21
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    The Charter mail server (SMTP) they are using is:
    24.159.221.34

    Code:
    Interesting ports on 24-159-221-34.static.roch.mn.charter.com (24.159.221.34):
Not shown: 1704 closed ports
PORT     STATE    SERVICE
23/tcp   open     telnet
25/tcp   filtered smtp
80/tcp   open     http
135/tcp  filtered msrpc
136/tcp  filtered profile
137/tcp  filtered netbios-ns
138/tcp  filtered netbios-dgm
139/tcp  filtered netbios-ssn
445/tcp  filtered microsoft-ds
993/tcp  open     imaps
1723/tcp open     pptp
    X-UIDL lines usually appear in the header when the client is configured "to leave messages on server ". X-UIDL is a method of uniquely identifying a message.

    Either the company is using MS Exchange or Charter is using MS Exchange:
    Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.5
    which is where I suspect the issue originates.

    I suspect it's the company that's using Exchange because the message I sent to the bogus address at that domain did not bounce back to me. Charter surely would have sent a response like "Delivery Failutre: nonexistant address ".

    Thus, all mail sent to hoverstenlaw.com (*@hoverstenlaw.com ) may be going to a company Exchange server and distributed from that point to specific accounts. And that's where the cause of the problem is.

    The company could be using imap messaging and the index files of some of the mail accounts could be corrupted. One way to test & possibly fix is to have the wife purge all messages stored on the server. (back them up prior to removing them)

    I'm fairly confident this is not a TB issue. To verify, setup OE with your charter account and send a message to the wife.
     
    Last edited: 2009/03/21
    TonyT,
    #21
  2. 2009/03/21
    MinnesotaMike

    MinnesotaMike Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Hi Tony,

    As I mentioned in a earlier post, I had done this to see if it would go through. Surprisingly, it did go through to her. I'm not sure if this helps or complicates things. :confused: I will have my wife check on the Microsoft Exchange program when she returns from her trip. Is there anything in Exchange that I should look for if they are using this? Should I contact Charter to see if they use this, or are you sure it's the company using it?

    If it's just a problem with Exchange, should I still do this? If so, what is the best way to back up the messages? This is a program I'm not familiar with and if I lose their messages, they are not going to be happy. Once backed up and purged, if that doesn't solve the problem, what's the best way to restore the messages? Thanks.

    Mike
     
    MinnesotaMike,
    #22


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  4. 2009/03/21
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Mike,
    You'll need a network server admin who knows Exchange to do any needed adjustments.
     
    TonyT,
    #23
  5. 2009/03/22
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Other things to try w/ TB, configure TB as such:
    1. send images inline & forward messages inline.
    2. remove any signatures.
    3. disable extensions.
    4. remove parenthesis in wife's name in address book.
    5. set antivirus to NOT scan outgoing messages.
    6. re-evaluate any message rules that may exist.
    7. toggle between composing in plain text & html, see if results differ.
     
    Last edited: 2009/03/22
    TonyT,
    #24
  6. 2009/03/22
    MinnesotaMike

    MinnesotaMike Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Tony,

    Regarding the TB changes, here is what I have.

    1. Currently set as such
    2. No signatures
    3. The only extension is a BCC one, disabled and sent email
    4. I have sent emails with nothing but the address and still the same problem
    5. AV is set not to scan outgoing messages
    6. No message rules that I know of
    7. Switched to plain text and sent email

    I won't know until tomorrow if the emails got through. I will let you know though. I will also have my wife check to see who the Exchange admin is.

    Mike
     
    MinnesotaMike,
    #25
  7. 2009/03/22
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    What is the reply-to address for mail that you send?
    In accounts > beneath name is email address & reply-to address. My config is blank for reply-to. If yours is blank then try using a reply-to address (same as email address). The Exchange server *may* look for that field if & when it returns an error to the sender.
     
    TonyT,
    #26
  8. 2009/03/22
    Ramona

    Ramona Geek Member Alumni

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    Mike,

    Have you tried sending through Charter's Web Mail portal? If not, give that a whirl...
     
    Ramona,
    #27
  9. 2009/03/22
    MinnesotaMike

    MinnesotaMike Geek Member Thread Starter

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    TonyT,

    My reply-to box was blank also. I put in my address and will try sending another email to the office. I'll let you know if it goes through.

    Ramona,

    Yes, I did try that. When I had Charter on the phone, they suggested that and it didn't go through either.

    Mike
     
    MinnesotaMike,
    #28
  10. 2009/03/22
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Well, that, and earlier data you posted like that suggests that the messages ARE going through, which means it's NOT a Charter issue. The message HAVE to be going through. If they weren't, then they would get bounced back to you.

    When you send a message via a mail server (ISP or any SMTP server), the message headers contain routing info and they get "built" as the message passes through the various mail servers, as well the packets themselves contain routing information that gets generated as they pass through the routers & servers along the route.

    If a message is "decliend by the recipient's mail server, it will automatically get bounced back. The end of the line server sends a message to the sending server along the lines of "non-existant address" or "mailbox full" or "no such address ", etc. The bounced message will contain an error code that represents the reason for delivery failure(s).

    That you are not getting these delivery error notices implies that the mail is arriving SOMEwhere, we just don't know exactly where they are arriving! As was stated earlier, an antispan system can play havoc with messaging standards if misconfigured.

    Outlook 2003 has automatic Junk mail filtering ON by default. It filters based on several factors; domains, encoding & sender addresses. Check that your TB is using Fonts > Western (ISO 8859-1). And set sending format: "When sending messages in HTML format and one or more recioients are..." to send in HTML anyway or to send as plaint txt & html.
     
    TonyT,
    #29
  11. 2009/03/22
    MinnesotaMike

    MinnesotaMike Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Yes, the million dollar answer to that question is.... :D I hope it's a nice home.

    Sorry, I'm not seeing that font. Have always had mine set to variable width.

    I do have it set to send both ways.

    I'll do some checking on the office system in a couple days and see if I can see anything with Outlook.
     
    MinnesotaMike,
    #30
  12. 2009/03/23
    Ramona

    Ramona Geek Member Alumni

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    Mike,

    Look at: View | Character encoding
     
    Ramona,
    #31
  13. 2009/03/23
    MinnesotaMike

    MinnesotaMike Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks Ramona for pointing me the right direction. I changed the font to the Western and sent an email. I'll know tomorrow if it gets to the addressee or not. I did not hear anything from the other emails that I sent, so I am assuming that they did not get to their destination.
     
    MinnesotaMike,
    #32
  14. 2009/03/23
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    What character encoding were you using before? If an oddball encoding then antispam may auto flag the message.
     
    TonyT,
    #33
  15. 2009/03/23
    MinnesotaMike

    MinnesotaMike Geek Member Thread Starter

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    The encoding that was being used was Unicode (UTF-8). I've never changed that since installing TB. I'll know tomorrow if changing that helped.
     
    MinnesotaMike,
    #34
  16. 2009/03/24
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    That shouldn't be a problem for antispam.

    Also, have a look see at Tools/Options or Edit/Preferences > Display Tab > Fonts button > yes to "Allow messages to use other fonts" and for Character Encodings use check in both boxes and set Outgoing & Incoming to Western (ISO 8859-1).
     
    TonyT,
    #35
  17. 2009/03/25
    MinnesotaMike

    MinnesotaMike Geek Member Thread Starter

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    TonyT,

    I checked the two boxes under Character Encoding. The rest was already set how you asked. I sent another message and we'll see if it arrives.

    Mike
     
    MinnesotaMike,
    #36
  18. 2009/03/29
    MinnesotaMike

    MinnesotaMike Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Sorry for the delay in getting back. I'm going to blame the blizzard in Nebraska/South Dakota for this! Actually, it did have something to do with it. But that's another story.

    Okay, here is what I have. The last settings that Tony had me changed seemed to work. Well, temporarily that is. After the change, I got some emails through, but then the problem came back in a couple days.

    I was able to stop into the office today and take a look at things. There was nothing strange in my wife's email program. Even so, I added our email addresses to her safe list. I also changed a setting under mail format, "use Microsoft Office Word 2003 to read Rich Text e-mail messages." That was not checked, so I checked it. I'll send some emails today and see if they arrive tomorrow.

    Also, to continue testing, I sent 9 emails last night. 3 each from two addresses in Thunderbird and 3 from one of the addresses using Outlook Express. The 3 emails contained: one with just text, one with text and an inline picture, and 1 with text and a picture as an attachment. All 3 Outlook Express messages came through her office email with no problems. Only one email came through TB. And that was one with an attachment. Also, one email account had the changes Tony suggested and one had the original settings. The TB email that made it through was with the original settings.

    I checked to see what they were using for the server and it was Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 SP2. Their Outlook only processes email for the server account. I did not try to access the server controls as I don't where to start looking around in there.

    I'm not sure if any of this helps, but that is where I am at with it. Any suggestions? It just doesn't make sense how hit and miss it is with emails. :confused:

    Mike
     
    MinnesotaMike,
    #37
  19. 2009/04/02
    MinnesotaMike

    MinnesotaMike Geek Member Thread Starter

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    The couple changes that I made to my wife's system did not help any. Any other thoughts out there?
     
    MinnesotaMike,
    #38
  20. 2009/04/03
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Appears to be an issue w/ how Exchange is handling your messages, or the in house server anti-spam.
     
    TonyT,
    #39
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