could not connect to this smtp server

Question

Level 1

14 points

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 5:58 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 17, 2017 7:09 AM in response to Kaukau 75

Worked for me as a charm. Don't really know at what point this issue regarding DNS is related to. Since I have manual DNS in my gateway and by default I use google's addresses. So, I only had to manually retype them and done.. SMTP up and running.

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Answer 2

mic51c

Level 1

4 points

Nov 14, 2017 7:44 PM in response to Kaukau 75

Thanks Kaukau 75 and thank your son for me! Had the same problem and spent a day trying to figure it out. Nobody else online seems to mention the DNS settings. Anyway, finally found your post, gave it a try and ..... instant success! I have no idea why it works, but it does. Thanks again.

(another) Michael.

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Answer 3

JimmyCMPIT

Level 7

29,223 points

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.

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Answer 4

Kaukau 75 Author

Level 1

14 points

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

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Answer 5

Krobbar

Level 1

4 points

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?

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Answer 6

Kaukau 75 Author

Level 1

14 points

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

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Answer 7

Krobbar

Level 1

4 points

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.

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