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Mail Settings Issues

Started by tpet96, April 12, 2008, 12:22:14 AM

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tpet96

Recently installed 2.0 B3 on our server, and cannot get the mail client to work (IE: auto send emails upon registration, etc.).  Looked over everything, and figured out the problem.

I enter in my mail information, SMTP info, and password, click SAVE.  When it loads back up, my 10 letter password has now become 12 letters. 

I have dumped cookies, temp files, saved passwords, etc...but it still keeps ahold of that 12 letter password.  I have no clue where it could be coming from.

Any suggestions?  I have no clue what that 12 digit password would be anyways!  Thanks.

km6xz

The problem is somewhere else in your configuration. The password displays 12 dots no matter how many characters it is hiding. This is a common security feature making any attempts to guess a password more difficult by not giving clues as to the number of characters are being used in the actual  password.

I noticed this just 10 minutes ago when changing my setup to a new dedicated server.  The mail did not work, the only glitch in the move. As usual, it turned out to be a password entry problem.

Rumbaar

Are you able to use the SMTP details in a dedicated mail client and sent/receive e-mail?

How did you test if mail was being sent, and did you allow enough time for any delay for the mail to arrive?
"An important reward for a job well done is a personal sense of worthwhile achievement."

[ Themes ]

tpet96

Sorry for the delay in reply.  Had some site issues.  I'm still having the problems with the mail not being sent out.  I have:

1.) Check the SMTP account details
2.) Checked my Username / Password for inaccuracies
3.) Made sure everything else is correct.

Members are not receiving activation emails.  I have also tried emailing myself through the forums, and not receiving those.  I have gone into the Error Logs, and find that everytime I try to send emails, I get the following error:

"Ran into problems sending Mail. Error: 550 From"

I'm really stumped as to what to do!

tpet96

Forgot.  Yes, I can use the same information in a mail client and it works fine. 

metallica48423

Are you trying to send from a valid email address that actually exists (even if it is a blackhole)?

550 from what i see, is "relaying denied"
Justin O'Leary
Ex-Project Manager
Ex-Lead Support Specialist

QuoteMicrosoft wants us to "Imagine life without walls"...
I say, "If there are no walls, who needs Windows?"


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tpet96

Yes.  Thinking perhaps the account was "off limits" or something, I even created a new on on our server, and tried using that one.  Still didn't work.

metallica48423

it seems as if something on the server side is blocking this from happening, have you tried contacting your host regarding the error?
Justin O'Leary
Ex-Project Manager
Ex-Lead Support Specialist

QuoteMicrosoft wants us to "Imagine life without walls"...
I say, "If there are no walls, who needs Windows?"


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tpet96

That was going to be my next step after I exhausted all options on here :)

metallica48423

Well, let us know what they say :P
Justin O'Leary
Ex-Project Manager
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QuoteMicrosoft wants us to "Imagine life without walls"...
I say, "If there are no walls, who needs Windows?"


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tpet96

I still have not heard back from them.  I have another website up and running, so thought I would try to send mail through that address as well.  Did not work.  Still get the 500 error as prior.  I'm thinking it is software related.

metallica48423

Is it on the same server?

I am using 2.0 on my live site but have no problems with email.  Although i believe it uses php email as opposed to SMTP
Justin O'Leary
Ex-Project Manager
Ex-Lead Support Specialist

QuoteMicrosoft wants us to "Imagine life without walls"...
I say, "If there are no walls, who needs Windows?"


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tpet96

No, completely different server.  I'm using SMTP rather than PHP. 

Gene

Most/many hosts require POP (read eamil) before send or you get "relay denied".  Could that be the problem?

Greenarts

#14
I thought I'd share the solution I finally found to my similar problem.  Here's what I posted on my host, Crystaltech's, forum:

OK.  Finally fixed it.  Turns out the problem was with the "From" address.

And the tricky part is that, for some unknown reason, the "From" address is not on the Feature Configuration page, along with the rest of the mail server settings.  It's on the main Core Configuration page: "Webmaster Email Address."  And I had that set to my personal email, not to a user I'd registered on the CT mail server.  So the CT server was refusing to send mail for a user it didn't recognize.

I just was not thinking to go back and look at the SMF Core Configurations, since I thought they were OK -- database id and password, etc.

What was even more confusing was that on the SMF Feature Configuration page, there are entries for "SMTP username" and "SMTP password."  So even though I knew, from searching forums, that the problem could be in the "From" address -- by golly, I thought I was setting that correctly!  I mean, what the heck are "SMTP username" and "SMTP password," if they're not the mail user who's sending the email?  Are they just dummy entries that don't actually do anything?

Calm yourself ...

The other thing was that the SMF error messages were misleading.  They kept indicating that the problem was either with the server ID (using PHP), or the "To" address (using SMTP).  Some kind of "Error 550" relaying issue.  But neither was the problem.

Setting all this down in case it helps some other newbie.

And -- a request to SMF to consider moving the "Webmaster Mail Address" setting from Core Configurations to Feature Configuration, where the other mail settings are -- because that turns out to be a key setting to get email to work.  Thing is, if I'd set the "Webmaster Mail Address" to the CT user when I was setting up the Core Configurations, I'd have never had the issue.  And if I'd known the "From" address setting was not where it should be, I'd have fixed things tout de suite.  (And wouldn't have spent hours combing the forums, trying endless combinations of mail settings, messing with "ini_set()" scripts in the "settings.php" file, etc.)

Well, OK, no point asking SMF to do something on a CT forum.  I'll post something over on their forum, too.


And ... done.  Hope this is helpful to someone.  Believe me, I feel the pain of those who got stuck at this point in setup!

Rumbaar

Ah, yes.  Though it doesn't help you now.  Checking the webmaster's e-mail is the same set for the SMTP settings is usually one of the things I inform people to check when experiencing e-mail sending issues.  I know it's been an issue for some in the past, like yourself.  Though not always the issue, but some.

I agree having some link or indicator that it's used and defined elsewhere should be implemented.
"An important reward for a job well done is a personal sense of worthwhile achievement."

[ Themes ]

tpet96

Thanks for posting that information.  I saw this thread and another one tonight about the Webmaster Email Address.  I had changed it for some editing purposes, and forgot to change it back.  That is where my hangup was.  I feel like an idiot.  Thanks again for the help!

ccbtimewiz

Not sure if this was answered, but the password you input on that screen gets converted to:

fakepassword

As protection from password-delimiters that people use in order to steal passwords.

smitch6

and i had a similar issue NO_ONE was receiving site emails
including users and admin
so i hunted about and found the mail section and it was set to SMTP so i changed it to PHP (default)
and hey presto i received emails straight away
i'm using 2.0 RC3 btw

just in case anyone else has this issue
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