Kaukau 75
Level 1 (5 points)
Mac OS X

Q: could not connect to this smtp server

Hi all,

 

I am on a 21.5 inch iMac late 2012 using OS 10.11.3. Yesterday (and today…) Mail would not send anything and gives me an "offline" status for sending. I'm using Gmail IMAP with 2 accounts. The same problem has happened to my wife on her computer with the shared email account. My iPhone (4) will send mail from the same account. If I log into Gmail directly I can send mail. I've deleted the accounts and re-entered the information. I've quit Mail and restarted the computer. I've looked at several solutions in forums, and have tried what appear to be the most common (that I could find), but nothing seems to work. After restarting the account Gmail sent me an email saying I'd been blocked for using an "insecure" app, and I have checked my Gmail settings so that I can use less secure apps (what the heck does that mean?). The problem continues…

 

Mail connection doctor says it is connected to the internet and my 2 IMAP accounts are working, but the 2 SMTP accounts (I assume for sending?) say "Could not connect to this SMTP server".

 

All this began yesterday without any changes to any settings or preferences that I am aware of.

 

Any ideas?

 

Michael

Posted on Mar 30, 2016 5:59 AM

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Kaukau 75

Q: could not connect to this smtp server

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  • Helpful answers

  • by JimmyCMPIT,

    JimmyCMPIT JimmyCMPIT Mar 30, 2016 6:04 AM in response to Kaukau 75
    Level 5 (7,518 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 30, 2016 6:04 AM in response to Kaukau 75

    Have you checked the SMTP settings to googles latest recommendations? Did they change something on their end recently?

     

    Are you running any 3rd party cleaning apps (clean my mac, mac keeper, etc.) or ANY Anti Virus on your Mac? If so remove them.


    Hve you installed anything between the mail working and not working?

    if so remove it.

  • by Kaukau 75,

    Kaukau 75 Kaukau 75 Mar 30, 2016 8:53 AM in response to JimmyCMPIT
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 30, 2016 8:53 AM in response to JimmyCMPIT

    Thanks Jimmy,

     

    I reset them to Google's recommendations. I'm not running any third party cleaners or anti virus and I'm pretty sure I haven't installed anything, unless there are background updates to software that might have happened automatically. Any other ideas/suggestions?

     

    Michael

  • by Krobbar,

    Krobbar Krobbar Apr 1, 2016 10:35 AM in response to Kaukau 75
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 1, 2016 10:35 AM in response to Kaukau 75

    Same here.

    From one day to another, suddenly SMTP Gmail server refuses to work. I did not any changes of the configuration on Mail.

    If I try to send an email through Gmail web, there is no problem. I tried also to change SSL port from 465 to 587, as Gmail recommends, but nothing changed.

    I'm running El Capitan 10.11.4 on a Macbook Pro (early 2011), and till two days ago, Mail was working just fine.

    Any suggestions on how to fix this? Is Apple something to do with this; could be an OS update bug?

  • by Kaukau 75,

    Kaukau 75 Kaukau 75 Apr 1, 2016 2:28 PM in response to Krobbar
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 1, 2016 2:28 PM in response to Krobbar

    Hi Krobbar (and Jimmy),

    In the end my son managed to solve it for me—having tried everything I could find on forums and with a tech friend guiding me remotely through pretty much the same things (to no avail), my son came up with the following solution: go into Network preferences settings, click on "advanced" and under the DNS settings, add 8.8.8.8 and then 8.8.4.4 as IPv4 addresses. That solved it! I don't know why, but it worked for my desktop, my Macbook Air and my wife's Macbook Pro which had all gone spack (I had to change each one individually)…

    I hope that might be helpful for you.

    Regards,

    Michael

  • by Krobbar,

    Krobbar Krobbar Apr 1, 2016 2:35 PM in response to Kaukau 75
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 1, 2016 2:35 PM in response to Kaukau 75

    Hi Kaukau 75

    It worked for me too! Thank you very much! Mysteries of Apple Mail... lol.