Why isn't ONE of my emails working?

December 27, 2006 7:56 PM

I have a home network that is working fine except for emails from one server. The problem is not the server. What else could it be? more inside...

I have a home network of 4 computers. I use a Cable connection, hooked up to a wireless router that splits the Cable connection to the 4 computers. It's a very basic system.

I am having problems accessing emails from my website ([e-mail]). All emails from my website are experiencing problems. The emails sometimes gets through, and a lot of times, it does not. Emails sent sometimes goes through, and most emails overseas don't go through.

I had to resort to using other email accounts such as aol or gmail, which works fine. I thought that the problem was with the server or host, so I switched from my original hosting site, domain discover, to another hosting site, yahoo. However, this did not solve the problem.

I am now out of ideas as to what the problem could be. My last theory is that it could be the cable connection. However, it's odd since my other emails seem to work. I am planning on switching to Verizon's fiber optic connection to see if it helps. Is that a wise choice? What could be the problem? Hive - please help!

posted by pikaboy202 to computers & internet (6 answers total)

In addition, I have changed the cable modem and wireless router. It didn't fix the problem.
posted by pikaboy202 at 7:58 PM on December 27, 2006

Need more information. What email client are you using? Do you have spam filtration through your ISP? You might try your ISP's webmail and see if any "missing" emails are available from the web interface or possibly in the webmail spam box.
posted by Gerard Sorme at 8:16 PM on December 27, 2006

I can't tell from your description, but if the mail is originating from your home network, that might be your problem. A lot of sites block inbound mail from cablemodems, on the assumption that you're either knowingly spamming, or have had your computer hijacked and are UNknowingly spamming. Rightly or wrongly, you're just going to be able to send much mail directly from your machines at home.

If this is your problem, I can think of at least three ways to fix it: A) set up mail forwarding through your existing ISP (most good ones will offer this), B) get on a really good network like Speakeasy, which polices their network religiously and thus still has trusted IP space, or C) find a webhost that will let you bounce mail through their systems.

If the mail is originating from a webhost out in the Internet somewhere... do you have access to the mail log files? That will usually tell you a lot about what's going on.
posted by Malor at 8:18 PM on December 27, 2006

I am using outlook express.

I do have problems with inbound mail between different email address from the same website. However, many of the emails don't get through to outbound emails.

I have gone through the logs and they say that there's a problem with sending. Basicaly it keeps trying and eventually quits. I don't get logs on emails I don't receive though.
posted by pikaboy202 at 8:22 PM on December 27, 2006

Has the IP number or DNS server number for the mail server changed recently? If so, the old number could be in cache somewhere on your client machine. Have you tried clearing caches?
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:09 PM on December 27, 2006

I'm pretty unclear on exactly what's going on here. Are you running any MTAs (sendmail, postfix, qmail, msexchange, etc.) on your machines, and if not, whose MTAs are you using to send mail? (your ISP's?) Where are the messages being sent from (a mail client you're running? somewhere else on the internet?) and where are they (not) being delivered to (your yahoo/gmail account? other peoples' mailboxes?)? When mail doesn't go through, does it bounce, or just vanish?

I have gone through the logs and they say that there's a problem with sending.

Could you post an excerpt?
posted by hattifattener at 11:40 AM on December 28, 2006