after update to 10.13.6, ports closed

Question

after update to 10.13.6, ports closed

Hi all... I very weird issue here.

All of the sudden my email client (Thunderbird) was not connecting to any email account. I thought it was then Thunderbird but then tried Mail app, Sparks and a couple more. NONE OF THEM COULD CONNET TO SERVERS! These servers belong to different providers so ISP is not the issue (actually one email is a gmail account)

exact error is this: server connection refused

The issue also happens when connected through my iphone (4G), so router/firewall is not the issue.

Email on mac laptop works fine.

email on iphone works fine

Webmail on the desktop mac (the one with the issue) works fine

I think it has to do with last update to 10.13.6.. but I'm not sure either.

Seems like the ports 465 and those used in POP or IMAP are closed.

Any hint??

Thanks a lot

Enrique

iMac 27", macOS 10.13

Posted on Jan 3, 2020 4:24 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

Jan 3, 2020 11:24 AM in response to Enrique Fornes

Hello Enrique,

Make a New Location, Using network locations in Mac OS X ...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2712

 System Preferences>Network, top of window>Locations>Edit Locations, little plus icon, give it a name.

System Preferences>Network, click on the little gear at the bottom next to the + & - icons, (unlock lock first if locked), choose Set Service Order.

The interface that connects to the Internet should be dragged to the top of the list.

 If using Wifi, instead of joining your Network from the list, click the WiFi icon at the top, and click join other network. Fill in everything as needed.

System Preferences>Network>choose interface>Advanced>Proxies Tab, make sure none are set, like for HTTP & HTTPS.

System Preferences>Network, unlock the lock if need be, highlight the Interface you use to connect to Internet, click on the advanced button, click on the DNS tab, click on the little plus icon, then add these numbers...

8.8.8.8

8.8.4.4

1.1.1.1

9.9.9.9

Apply.

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Answer 2

Jan 5, 2020 3:05 AM in response to BDAqua

Hi again.

This is so strange... I have always used startls on port 110. This was automatically configured when the accounts were created. I changed that to ssl on port 993 (or 995 for POP accounts) AND IT WORKS NOW SMOOTHLY!

But the strangest thing is that now, I can work with onther email clients like Mail or Spark (not that I want to, but I tested this as part of the search for the solution).

So, I'm pretty sure the changed done with the location and dns and proxies solved the issue. Why I couldn't create or use accounts on mail or spark yesterday is a mistery to me. These were new accounts so they should have configured ports correctly... I did this manually btw. Another change from yesterday...

anyways. THANK YOU SO MUCH. This has been a fight for the last 7 days, and now it over thanks to you.

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

Jan 3, 2020 2:40 PM in response to Enrique Fornes

Good work, assuming you're using Ethernet! :)

In Mail's Window Menu, choose Connection Doctor, any red dots for status, if so what is the message?

Then click the Show Details button & Check again.

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Answer 4

Jan 3, 2020 2:36 PM in response to BDAqua

hey, wow... this is a huge improvement as one account, a domain linked to gmail, can now connect. I can now downloads those emails, but the other accounts still do not connect.

I have to add that with this new settings, I could also create a new email account in a new domain in a new ISP (canmalalt.com) that was previously imposible to create (I tried to create that email when I started to filter posible causes for the issue)

This is what I did, to double check I did it right:

create new location

then change order (ethernet is first, as always)

then uncheck all services in proxies tab

then change dns

so, we are close but not yet there!. Thanks a lot for your help. Maybe what I'm explaining gives you another idea of what's going on... thanks!

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

Jan 4, 2020 12:37 PM in response to Enrique Fornes

Well do you know which ports & authentication you're using?

The receiving email ports are:

IMAP is port 143

IMAP-SSL is port 993

POP is port 110

POP-SSL is port 995

Outgoing ports are...

SMTP and SMTP-SSL is on ports 25, 587 and 465. Port 587 has to be SSL, and port 465 is enforced TLS-wrapped and is generally used by Outlook users.

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Answer 6

Jan 4, 2020 11:54 AM in response to BDAqua

hey, thanks. My Mail app has no accounts as I have always used Thunderbird. If I try now to configure an account in Mail, it's imposible, due to the issue I'm having. Weird thing is that I'm not able to configure any account, even on IMAP, even the one I could configure (canmalalt.com) on Thunderbird following your last post....

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