Can't send Via SMTP.

[Jenny Sumner]

Good day. I am having a weird problem.

History first:
On one pc I was running Eudora 7 Pro (for eons). All of a sudden, I was
having issues sending messages and had everything configured just fine
(nothing changed over the years). I could receive, but had all kinds of
problems sending. I talked with our ISP (Shaw Cable) and tested and tested
and tested, Periodically the SMTP server name would be resolved, others NOT.
Shaws webmail works fine, so it's not an email account issue.

I even changed to the actual IP address.

I then called a local Computer Support Co, and their MS SE guy spent
countless hours on the problem. Eventually, we moved to Outlook 2K7.

The Present:
For a few weeks, all good, but yesterday, I sent a bunch of emails and
assumed all was well. Today, I find out that noone received any messages,
there were no send/receive errors from Outlook.

Now I have a command line tool that is a windows command line based utility
(bmail v 1.07). It works fine.

I've changed to a brand new router, we've changed the Cable Modem, all the
network cables that are relevant. I can telnet to the SMTP port on the Shaw
server, so that doesn't seem to be the issue.

So the problem appears to be a mapi or outlook issue.

Can someone help please, this is really got me rattled and my business
depends on email.

Also, we had another MS guy come in this morning and after 3.5 hours he just
does not know.

Thanks.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]]

For a few weeks, all good, but yesterday, I sent a bunch of emails and
assumed all was well. Today, I find out that noone received any messages,
there were no send/receive errors from Outlook.

Did the messages move to your Sent Items folder? If so, then the _did_ send.
They were accepted by whatever Outlook was using as a server.

Now I have a command line tool that is a windows command line based utility
(bmail v 1.07). It works fine.

So the problem appears to be a mapi or outlook issue.

Not a valid conclusion.

The biggest producer of effects like this is antivirus software. If you have
your AV program configured to scan email, it wedges itself between Outlook and
the mail server and pretends to be the server when Outlook wants to get or
send mail and pretends to be the client in order to speak with the server.
Often, this breaks the continuity between the real client and the real server.
If your AV program is doing this, the fact that the command line mail program
isn't affected just means that the AV program doesn't know about the command
line program and doesn't wedge itself between the server and the applicaiton.
It doesn't lead to any conclusion about Outlook's situation.

In order to eliminate variables, uninstall your AV program and reinstall it
without any mail scanning feature. Often, simply disabling it when it is
already installed isn't enough. The mail proxy is already in place and still
can interfere. Also, if can help if you start Outlook in safe mode to
eliminate the effects of any add-ins you might have installed in Outlook.
Turning on diagnostic logging in Outlook can also lead to an indication of
where the problem lies.

 

[Jenny Sumner]

My bad Brian. Given the info I delivered, yes one may consider it to be and
"Invalid conclusion". I should have mentioned that I removed Bitdefender. So
I'll give you that one...

But the other part of the post (the part that you didn't comment on) was why
now all of a sudden? All worked fine then began to be random.

On a whim, I booted up my Panda and Kaspersky rescue CDs and ran scans. And
low and behold the following files were infected:
1) mapistub.dll,
2) mapi32.dll.

Hmmm, I believe this to be a MAPI issue..

So, AV aside you should probably have read and/or commented on the "Entire
Post" - The conclusion(s) seem to be accurate. Removed, re-installed and all
"seems" to be ok, at least at this point. I sent 1000 messages (groups of
100) to a "dummy email account" scheduled to send every 5 minutes. Also
requested "Delivery and Read Receipts". They all went out. This was "After
re-installing Outlook and my AV program".

Thanks anyway.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]]

On a whim, I booted up my Panda and Kaspersky rescue CDs and ran scans. And
low and behold the following files were infected:
1) mapistub.dll,
2) mapi32.dll.

Hmmm, I believe this to be a MAPI issue..

I believe it to be a virus problem, not a MAPI issue because your copies of
the MAPI DLLs are invalid.