Some sent e-mails returned....

Hello all!

Don't know if anyone can help with this question, but I'll try my best to explain.

My mother recently purchased a new HP computer with Windows XP. She has finally had a chance to get it hooked up to the internet (actually brought the computer in to her ISP technicians to have it set up for her). Note--this computer is new, out of the box....never been connected to the internet before.

I have sent her several e-mails and she has said that she received them just fine. But when she tries to send me one (or my sister) they come back. (My sister and I have the same ISP--here in the north country--my mother uses a different one due to her southern "snowbird" location).

She has said that she has e-mailed other places and has received responses from them, so she knows that they have received them okay, but always gets the ones to my sister and I sent back. (I didn't get a chance to ask if there was any error type message with the returned letter???)

I also wrote and told her to try "reply to author" to see if that would make any difference (in case she had typed my address wrong) but she said that one came back too!

Is there anything I can have her check to see what might be causing her mail to me being returned?? (She also has/uses one of those mailstation things, so I can still communicate with her without the long distance phone bills!!) But sometimes when she's on the internet, she would like to be able to send stuff to me.....can't do that when it keeps coming back!

Thanks for taking the time to read this rather lengthy post! I hope someone can help (us) figure out what's going on!



Thanks much!
Vicki

 

If she can send/receive to other people. And she cant send to you or your sister(same ISP, and the address is right) I would contact your ISP and find out why your server is kicking it back. They will probably want to know what message she is getting back.

BTW. Ask your mom to have someone who has her ISP to try and send you an email.

 

Thanks!

I will have her try that (sending me an e-mail from another person's computer that uses her same ISP). Will post back when she lets me know what happens.

Just out of curiosity, what type of "message" would one receive if they get mail returned to them? (In case I need to know that info when contacting my ISP. I would like to be able to ask my mother what/where to look for it.)

Thanks again!
Vicki

 

Here's one. . .

Vicki,

Here is the message I got yesterday when an e-mail I sent to my father-in-law was returned because his server was down all weekend.

The one your Mom is getting may be a little different but you can get the jist of it with this. All of the "X "s were added to protect the innocent and guilty alike.

___________________________________

The original message was received at Sun, 24 Feb 2002 00:51:08 -0600
from mdm-xx-xxx-xx-54.dialup.xxxxxxxxx.net [xx.xxx.xx.54] (may be forged)

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<packrat@xxxx.net>
(reason: 550 5.1.1 <packrat@xxxx.net>... User unknown)

----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to mail2.xxxx.net.:
>>> RCPT To:<packrat@xxxx.net>
<<< 550 5.1.1 <packrat@xxxx.net>... User unknown
550 5.1.1 <packrat@xxxx.net>... User unknown
___________________________________

HTH

I'll be looking forward to finding a solution for your Mom's problem. We have some friends in Kansas City that we can't get through to either and I know we're using the right e-mail address. Ain't technology grand ??


Mike

 

Still no luck....

Hoped that maybe there might have been some "server" problems at her end, but no luck....e-mails (to me) still coming back to her!

I did write to her (as I know she can receive my e-mails okay) and suggested that she maybe try "forwarding" one of those bounced letters to me using my hotmail address??? Don't know if that will work, but not quite sure how to explain to her how to look for the error message? (or have her write it all down and then send it to me on her mailstation). So hoping she can maybe send it though hotmail?

Will post back again when I find out more!

Thanks to all!

Vicki

 

Reply from my ISP

I did contact my ISP as was suggested earlier (actually forwarded a copy of one of the letters/headers that my mother had sent to me via my hotmail account). Here is what they replied:

"That is because her mail server that she is using is on the ordb list, which means they allow open relay spamming. She needs to contact her Network Administrator. They need to go to www.ordb.org. "

What does this mean and how/what should I tell/explain to my mother that she needs to do? (I didn't understand any of their explanation!)

Many thanks to all who have helped me thus far!

Vicki

 

Here's an extract from the Open Relay Database FAQ:-

You can view the complete FAQ here.

Hope this helps.

 

I'm confused.....

and that just goes to show how "little" I know about how these systems operate!!

I wish to apologize in advance as I know this is going to be a really lengthy post! But wondered if anyone could help me/us to understand what this all means?

Had my mother go through that "ordb" (as suggested by our ISP) and here is the first of their replies:

----- Original Message -----From: <bitbucket6@ordb.org>
To: <xxxxxxxxx@valleyonline.com>Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 3:40 PM
Subject: Information about your submission at ORDB.org
> This is an automatically generated email>
> The host you submitted at ORDB.org (xxxxxxxxxxx), has been thoroughly
> checked, and does not seem to permit relaying.>
> Please note however, that this may be caused by extreme delays at
> the servers end.>
> Should we at a later time receive one of our testing emails from the
> server you submitted, you will receive another email, telling you that
> the server is in fact an open relay. In that case, please disregard this
> email.>> If you know for a fact that the host you submitted is
> an open relay, please resubmit it via http://www.ordb.org/submit/.
> Additionally, some administrators have been known to block our ip-address
> in various firewalling devices, which may also cause our test to fail.>
> If your host was marked as an open relay, it has now been removed from our
> database, and will be removed from the relays.ordb.org-zone during thenext
> zone-rebuild.>
> This email is sent from an unattended mailbox, so please do not
> reply to it. To find information about how to contact ordb.org,
> please visit http://ordb.org/contact/.>>
> Have a nice day, thank you for using ORDB.org>
> PS. Need this mail translated? Have a look at:
> http://ordb.org/translation/#not_a_relay


I don't have a clue as to what they are saying! Here is another reply/response they sent:

----- Original Message -----From: <bitbucket14@ordb.org>
To: <xxxxxxx@valleyonline.com>Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 12:46 PM
Subject: Confirmation from ORDB.org (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
> This is a confirmation email from ORDB.org>
> You have submitted xxxxxxxxxxxx for checking by the ORDB.org system,
> however we need your confirmation in order to proceed with the test.>
> Simply hit the reply-button in your mail-client, and the automated system
> at ORDB.org will start the test during its next run.>
> Important: Make sure your confirmation goes to confirmation@ordb.org and_not_
> bitbucket14@ordb.org. Some email-clients are known to ignore the Reply-To
header.>> Please ensure that you do not change the subject of this mail
> when replying (except by prefixing it with "Re: ", which is ok)>
> If you are unable to confirm your submission via email, simply follow this
link:>> http://ordb.org/confirmation/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Thank you for using ORDB.org>> PS. Need this mail translated? Have a look at:
> http://ordb.org/translation/#confirmation>
> If you in any way appreciate this information we welcome donations of any
amount,> be they small or large, to cover some of the expenses associated with
development
> and maintenance of ORDB. http://ordb.org/donate/ is the place to go.

I'm still completely lost! And the last reply/response:

----- Original Message -----From: <bitbucket4@ordb.org>
To: <xxxxxxxxxx@valleyonline.com>Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 1:02 PM
Subject: Commencing relay check xxxxxxxxxx
> This is an automatically generated mail from ORDB.org.>
> We will now begin our relay check of your submitted host xxxxxxxxxx>
> You should have the result within the next few hours.>
> This email is sent from an unattended mailbox, so please do not
> reply to it. To find information about how to contact ordb.org,
> please visit http://ordb.org/contact/.>
> Have a nice day, thank you for using ORDB.org.>
> PS. Need this mail translated? Have a look at:
> http://ordb.org/translation/#commencing_relay_check> .


I have "x'd" out the name/numbers myself (they were included in the original letter that my mother forwarded to me using my hotmail address). I haven't had a chance to ask my mother if she ever found out the "results" yet? (as stated by ordb--'result in a few hours'), if she even knows how or if they automatically let her know?

Can anyone explain what went on here in a language other than "high tec "? (I know it maybe isn't to most people, but seems like it to me.)

Thanks to all for taking the time to read all of this and I'm hoping that someone can offer me a more "simple" explanation?

Vicki

 

Vicki,

My 2 cents:

I would ask my mother to get in touch with her ISP and have THEM straighten it out, based on what you posted yourself:
"She needs to contact her Network Administrator. They need to go to www.ordb.org "

In the meantime your mother might want to consider using a different mail system such as Yahoo Mail for those addresses that will not accept her ISP's mail.

Yahoo mail is web-based but there is also a way to use Yahoo's own mail servers with a pop mail client. I've tried it with Outlook Express and it does work although you have to be signed up with something called "Yahoo Delivers ". More on Yahoo POP-based email here and here

 

ORDB maintains a list of ISP's who (knowingly or unknowingly) allow for the routing of junk mail ( "spam ") through their mail servers.

Your mother's ISP is on this list.

Many ISP's will block mail received via these "blacklisted" ISP's in order to protect their customers from spam. This is what your ISP has done.

Alice is quite right ... your mother needs to contact her ISP's postmaster and ask for the matter to be resolved.

 

Better understanding now!

Thank you all for helping me/us to better understand what that all meant!

I have also contacted my mother to try and better explain to her that she needs to contact 'her' ISP about that "ordb ". I think we BOTH had that part mixed up! Thank you for helping to clarify that for us!

I am still hoping to get this resolved, but even if it doesn't at least I know what the cause was from! I know I can e-mail to her and she receives the messages okay and sometimes she will e-mail me using my hotmail address. She just doesn't feel as comfortable using that as compared to using Outlook Express for e-mailing.

Thanks again for all the help! I will let you know if/when/how the outcome turns out!

Vicki