D
Dave Jenkins
I am using OL 2003 on a laptop connected to another PC via direct
ethernet connection (through a hub). That PC connects to Earthlink
via satellite connection and provides Internet Connection Sharing for
the laptop.
At certain times of the day, and when attempting to send mail with
large (>3MB) attachments, I get send errors of multiple flavors: SMTP
server time-out, unable to connect to SMTP server. The offending
e-mail stays in the outbox, but if I time things just right, I can get
it moved out of the outbox to someplace safe. The send/receive status
popup error tab may subsequently clear, and I'll see a new set of
Sending/Receiving actions. Since the lights on the satellite modem
continue to flash furiously, these are all signs which which I have
intepreted in the past as a sign that OL is attempting to resend the
document. [I sure wish I could configure his Send/Receive status to
tell me *which* e-mails he's processing - "50% complete" is not very
helpful!] (The OL error message says that if it recurs, to contact my
ISP. There's a grin...) I can you tell you, unequivocally, that I
have made no (intended) changes to this system that coincided with the
onset of this problem other than this: I switched to the direct
ethernet connection from a wireless connection that used a Linksys WAP
connected to a Linksys hub.
In the past (believing the error messages meant that OL couldn't send
my mail), I have resent the message (which always shows a status of
"not been sent"). As it turns out, the original message may have been
sent successfully - it has just never been moved from the Outbox to
Sent mail. This has resulted in my clients receving multiple copies
of hefty attachments, and it makes some of them understandably cranky
to have their bandwidt occupied by redundnat data.
This does not always happen - it appears to happen most frequently
when the Earthlink server is presumably most busy (late afternoon,
early evening). At other times the message may go with no problem.
BTW, if I go to Accounts and "Test Account Settings", I often get all
kinds of errors reported. I have come to disbelieve those errors,
because I continue to send and receive smaller messages ok. Sometimes
when I repeat the "Test Account Settings" I get different results.
What's up with that? (The Earthlink support rep says that either a)
my pc is running "too slow" or b) I need to power everything down and
back up. And what the hell is up with *that*?)
Well, do I have OL problems? SMTP server problems? How can I tell
when to trust OL's error messages? How can I interpret OL's error
messages (Did the message go, or not?) If I leave the message in the
Outbox, is there any way I can tell if it actually went, other than
asking for a read receipt (which may not be 100% effective)?
I have read elsewhere that the "MTU" may need to be set. I'm not using
a router - would that apply in this case? I did do a "ping -f -l 1492
smtpauth.earthlink.net" and got back "Packet needs to be fragemented
but DF set". Does that indicate any kind of incipient problem? How
does one set "DF", and what does it mean?
As you can obviously tell, I'm thrashing around in the bushes here,
trying to find my way into a clearing. But I get a flavor, from
extensive Googling, that this is a common problem. I just can't seem
to get a handle on a crisp solution - hope someone on this forum can
help.
ethernet connection (through a hub). That PC connects to Earthlink
via satellite connection and provides Internet Connection Sharing for
the laptop.
At certain times of the day, and when attempting to send mail with
large (>3MB) attachments, I get send errors of multiple flavors: SMTP
server time-out, unable to connect to SMTP server. The offending
e-mail stays in the outbox, but if I time things just right, I can get
it moved out of the outbox to someplace safe. The send/receive status
popup error tab may subsequently clear, and I'll see a new set of
Sending/Receiving actions. Since the lights on the satellite modem
continue to flash furiously, these are all signs which which I have
intepreted in the past as a sign that OL is attempting to resend the
document. [I sure wish I could configure his Send/Receive status to
tell me *which* e-mails he's processing - "50% complete" is not very
helpful!] (The OL error message says that if it recurs, to contact my
ISP. There's a grin...) I can you tell you, unequivocally, that I
have made no (intended) changes to this system that coincided with the
onset of this problem other than this: I switched to the direct
ethernet connection from a wireless connection that used a Linksys WAP
connected to a Linksys hub.
In the past (believing the error messages meant that OL couldn't send
my mail), I have resent the message (which always shows a status of
"not been sent"). As it turns out, the original message may have been
sent successfully - it has just never been moved from the Outbox to
Sent mail. This has resulted in my clients receving multiple copies
of hefty attachments, and it makes some of them understandably cranky
to have their bandwidt occupied by redundnat data.
This does not always happen - it appears to happen most frequently
when the Earthlink server is presumably most busy (late afternoon,
early evening). At other times the message may go with no problem.
BTW, if I go to Accounts and "Test Account Settings", I often get all
kinds of errors reported. I have come to disbelieve those errors,
because I continue to send and receive smaller messages ok. Sometimes
when I repeat the "Test Account Settings" I get different results.
What's up with that? (The Earthlink support rep says that either a)
my pc is running "too slow" or b) I need to power everything down and
back up. And what the hell is up with *that*?)
Well, do I have OL problems? SMTP server problems? How can I tell
when to trust OL's error messages? How can I interpret OL's error
messages (Did the message go, or not?) If I leave the message in the
Outbox, is there any way I can tell if it actually went, other than
asking for a read receipt (which may not be 100% effective)?
I have read elsewhere that the "MTU" may need to be set. I'm not using
a router - would that apply in this case? I did do a "ping -f -l 1492
smtpauth.earthlink.net" and got back "Packet needs to be fragemented
but DF set". Does that indicate any kind of incipient problem? How
does one set "DF", and what does it mean?
As you can obviously tell, I'm thrashing around in the bushes here,
trying to find my way into a clearing. But I get a flavor, from
extensive Googling, that this is a common problem. I just can't seem
to get a handle on a crisp solution - hope someone on this forum can
help.