Closed Bug 329875 Opened 19 years ago Closed 17 years ago

Thunderbird 1.5 reports SMTP host not responding, won't send mail -- but server is responding (got traces to prove it)

Categories

(Thunderbird :: General, defect)

Product:
Thunderbird
Component:
General
Platform:
x86
Windows XP
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
major

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

People

(Reporter: bugs.mozilla.org, Assigned: mscott)

Details

Attachments

(7 files)

libpcap capture of session (Ethereal or tcpdump compatible)
1.16 KB, application/octet-stream
Details
Same as attachment 1, in verbose text
34.77 KB, text/plain
Details
A thunderbird log from when it worked, once.
1.80 KB, text/plain
Details
The pcap file from the time it worked.
2.39 KB, application/octet-stream
Details
The log file from when it's not working (same as among the comments)
209 bytes, text/plain
Details
One log of an SMTP failure
1.47 KB, text/plain
Details
Second example log
807 bytes, text/plain
Details
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.1) Gecko/20060111 Firefox/1.5.0.1 Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.1) Gecko/20060111 Firefox/1.5.0.1 I've recently upgraded from 1.0 to 1.5. Now, after I create an e-mail and try to send it, it won't send, UNLESS the account has just been created. This works: - remove account - create new account - send message This does not work: - close Thunderbird - restart computer - open Thunderbird - try to send message I get the message saying "Sending of message failed. The message could not be sent because connecting to the SMTP server ms.mindcontrol.org failed. The server may be unavailable or is refusing SMTP connections. Please verify that your SMTP server setting is correct and try again, or else contact your network administrator." I am the network administrator. Other machines on the network can send fine -- it's just this upgraded version of Thunderbird that has problems (no problems before upgrade). I have Ethereal traces that show that some communication is being made. The sending machine is connected through a switch to the mail server (which runs qmail 1.0.5). I will attach the Ethereal log of two separate sessions. 10.0.2.245 is the Thunderbird machine, 10.0.0.3 is the server. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. try to send message Actual Results: Get error message about SMTP server not responding. Expected Results: Message actually sent. Server is actually responding.
It actually has a short conversation before deciding it couldn't connect.
Note that it gets 235 ok, go ahead, but seems to ignore this success!
I'd like to re-emphasize the point where it gets the 235 success status from the server authorization, but decides to send nothing more, and report failure.
Version: unspecified → 1.5
One last note: I have disabled all virus scanning on the sending machine for this test. The firewall on the machine is the XP2 firewall, and clearly lets traffic go out. The firewall on the receiving machine lets the data through (again, as seen in the log, and from other, working, machines).
It might be even more helpful than having "traces to prove it" if you could attach a log of TB's view of things ;-), as per <http://www.mozilla.org/quality/mailnews/mail-troubleshoot.html#smtp>...
Here it is: 0[274808]: SMTP Connecting to: 10.0.0.3 0[274808]: SMTP entering state: 0 0[274808]: SMTP Response: 220 mx.mindcontrol.org ESMTP 0[274808]: SMTP entering state: 15 0[274808]: SMTP Send: EHLO [10.0.2.245]
After this occasional working message, it again doesn't work. I'm uploading this for reference.
Again, this is for reference -- the pcap file from when it worked just once.
The plot thickens: I'm wondering whether the possible timing bug (or whatever it is) isn't in SMTP, but in password storage. The password for this account lives in the master password list, and Thunderbird doesn't even ask me for the master password before it decides that the server rejected the connection, in the common case (where it fails).
To add my two pence, I am seeing something very similar to this. My family have two PCs, a new one (Dual-core Athlon X2) and an older one (Athlon). Never had any problems with 1.0.7, but 1.5 has problems on the newer PC. Sometimes POP complains, but this "goes away". However, SMTP is very unreliable: only get sending very rarely. Same profile and same e-mail sends fine from older PC - we are set up to share the profile across both PCs. Reverting to 1.0.7 solves the problem straight off. My own laptop using nightlies has no problems with sending to the same sever. Nightlies on the problem PC also fail to send reliably (using Portable Thunderbird on USB). I have also tried the usual firewall/av ideas, but I'm sure this is not the issue. Will attach a couple of example logs in a second. Maring as NEW - this is clearly a real problem.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Attachment #214793 - Attachment mime type: application/force-download → text/plain
Attached file Second example log —
the Dual-core Athlon X2 problem sounds like one that has been fixed - try a nightly 1.5.0.x build - ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/nightly/latest-mozilla1.8.0
(In reply to comment #14) > the Dual-core Athlon X2 problem sounds like one that has been fixed - try a > nightly 1.5.0.x build - > ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/nightly/latest-mozilla1.8.0 > Ah yes, seems to be. Must have missed the bug - sorry.
Same issue. XP SP2 with all updates. Thunderbird 1.5. I use my own argosoft mail server (on a second machine) and the logs there tell me that the final line with a "." (dot) on its own is not being appended to the data so the server terminates the connection. Using a free SMTP server (on my own machine) also results in no mail being sent and the same error message in Thunderbird. Reverting to version 1.02 fixes the problem with both mail servers. Also netscape messenger has no problem with the same message, recipient and mail servers. Message is about 3.5MB, a few words plus a single, big, jpg file. Simple text messages send fine.
I had a simular problem which probably was linked to upgrading TB to 1.5.0.2. I saw using Ethereal that after the "250 - smtp.xxx.yyy Hello zzzz, pleased to meet" my computer did send a TCP ACK but also displayed a windows asking for a password but entering a password or just leaving it blank only made TB sending a TCP FIN,ACK to close the TCP session and giving the "Sending of message failed ..." error. The solution for me proved to be unselecting "Use name and password" (Tools->account settings->Out going server, select server and "Edit") as my provider (like most ISPs) does not require authentication (Use secure connection was already unselected). After this sending email did work as before. I am 100% sure I did not select the "Use name and password" option while upgrading to 1.5.0.2 so either this is a side effect of the upgrade (most likely to my opinion) or I had selected this option before and sending email worked while it does not work anymore for 1.5.0.2 Would be good to get some feedback if this solves the problem.
I have the same problem. Everyday it goes broke again with the same message as reported by the other users.
Updated to version 1.5.0.5, removed all extensions as was suggested in some foruns, but still everyday after i reboot the system complain that it can't connect to the SMTP server.
May be related: I had a similar situation where a running fine Thunderbird (version 1.5.0.9 (20061207)) on WinXP SP2 suddenly stopped sending to any of three smtp mail servers. It turned out that the problem was that one of 3 incoming servers (on account POP, one account IMAP) went down. Thunderbird would keep downloading mail from the other server but would not send mail to any smtp server. Even when the sever came back up, I still could not send. Other computers running the same thunderbird version could send (they did not access the down server). A restart of thunderbird did not help. A warm XP reboot did not help. A cold boot after a 30 sec delay did the trick, after the down server restarted. It appears that thunderbird gets unhappy if an incoming mail server goes down. The IMAP account on the down server does not use secure connections or authentication and the POP account does not either.
I just ran into this problem, and after a discussion on mozillazine, traced it to the fact that I'd told it to do outgoing authentication, but hadn't given a username. I expected it to prompt me for it, but instead, it went through the smtp conversation as far as getting the EHLO response, then popped up that error dialog complaining the smtp connection failed. It shouldn't have even allowed saving the setting without a username if it's required, and when it found it didn't have the username, it should have complained about that, rather than implying that there was a server problem...
is bug 314001 related in any way?
No, I ran into the problem testing a server using authentication. In fact, I use authenticated sending with most servers, but I usually put in the username. For some reason, this time I didn't bother, expecting it to prompt me.
Reporter is gone => incomplete. If you stillsee this problem using version 2, filing a new bug and referencin the old material is likely to be the fastest way to get a resolution.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 17 years ago
Resolution: --- → INCOMPLETE
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