Can't send email with mail.app or MozT-Bird

Hello Ernie - I am (unfortunately) connected to the internet through the internal modem in my iMac, bad ol' dial-up. That was the problem with the download of the 10.4.4 update. It was taking hours, and somewhere around the 4 hour mark when I went back to check progress I was no longer connected and the download was not completed. It was the only update I was trying to download at that time. Again, nothing was installed, by me at least. The only problem I have with downloads so far is the length of time due to my slow connection. All other updates from Apple have worked, once I got them. Thanks again for all your efforts.
-Robert

Robert,

I was afraid you had a dial-up connection. I think you might benefit from the update using the Combo Update for 10.4.4, but it is 120 MB!!!

Ernie

Thanks for the email and screen shots. I am thinking some new questions, and possible answers may result.

First, can you show me what the choices would be for SMTP Relay Personality -- I am not sure they matter with the SMTP of the ISP, but I am unfamiliar with what Eudora might offer, in that section.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is the full meaning of the choice to Allow Authentication in Eudora versus choices available when editing the Mail Preferences. I think the Login ID you show in the screenshots is that used for your Domain -- is that correct? Is that same Login ID used when authenticating the Incoming server with PaulBunyan? If different, and if Mail attempted to use the Login ID entered as the Username when authenticating the SMTP, then there could be a problem.

Hitherto-fore the choices in Mail for authenticating the SMTP have seemed to me to be either None or Password (or other form of authentication). Recently, when setting up a new account in Tiger, I have noticed an opportunity to check Allow Authentication but not enter any Username or Password. With my provider this turned out to be the same as None, but it might not be with all SMTP providers. When only editing the preferences, I still cannot find the exact equivalent, if there is a difference.

If, on your Mac, the messages in Inboxes could be moved to other, On My Mac mailboxes, you could remove the accounts (maybe only need to remove the account with the ISP, but remove all SMTPs, and then add an account, which would trigger the account set up assistant, which will offer the choice to say Allow Authentication, but then enter no Username and Password when setting up the SMTP to use for Outgoing Server. Transferring any messages in the Inbox (and Sent if it were applicable) must be done before removing the account, since removal will result in the permanent loss of all messages in the mailboxes normally found in the account folder of the account being removed.

In summary, please email additional info, or comment generally about the role of the Login ID entry displayed in the screens you have already sent. If willing to remove the account with the ISP, please clarify what you understand to be needed when doing this.

Ernie

To be in conformity with they say, and with the set up in Eudora that you have show in the screenshots, then to work, Mail MUST NOT attempt to authenticate the smtp.paulbunyan.net, especially using the Login ID of your Domain as Username -- it will not work!

If they are not requiring other SMTP to relay through their SMTP, then it must be an open server. Some things I have been reading since your last post:

http://www.eudora.com/techsupport/tutorials/winsmtprelay.html

and

http://www.eudora.com/techsupport/kb/2107hq.html

Did you happen to ask them why we could not Ping their SMTP server?

The articles were meant to address relaying of SMTP, and why my expectation is normally that third party SMTP must relay to that of the ISP -- if no relay is involved (what you said they told you, in effect) this should then suggest that the equivalent of the Eudora setting in your PC, would be authentication of None in Mail on the Mac, and no utilization of the Username and Password when setting up the Outgoing Server.

This is also in line with my suggestion to remove the accounts, and add the paulbunyan account, and during the setup assistant, choose to allow authentication BUT not provide Username or Password in that dialogue. It is not clear to me that you have tried this combination?

I believe that with the right combination of authentication settings, that the smtp.paulbunyan.net can be made to work. If so, it should then be possible to make the other SMTP work as well. I remain skeptical that your ISP would allow sending with another SMTP if not successful in connecting to theirs.

Wish I were in front of your computer to select some combinations, but that of course can't be.

Ernie

I have had a similar "cannot send message using the server" problem, which I think Ernie's advice to the original post may have solved. I just want to say a deeply heartfelt thanks for that!

Browsing through the previous posts on this problem, I noticed Ernie's advice about resetting the ethernet MTU setting. That appeared to fit the specifics of my problem, which was that some messages would send but others would not, particularly any that were replies or forwards. Activity viewer showed a successful log-on to the outgoing mail server and "100% data delivery", but then would stall and after several minutes report "cannot send message using the server". Setting the MTU down just to 1492, from the default 1500, appears to have fixed it.

Anyone with similar symptoms should try this fix.

Thank you again, Ernie!

Thank you for this very kind post, and welcome to the Discussions, as a poster, at least. Bravo for reading and solving your problem!

Ernie