Can't send messages from Thunderbird - UK Yahoo account

Guest · Post by **Guest** » May 21st, 2008, 5:48 am

Hello,

Had this problem for about a month now, Thunderbird will download messages just fine but will not send them.

First it displays a message telling me "authentication required - for help, go to http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/o ... op-30.html" which just displays details relating to receiving mail.

When I 'OK' this error, a further error displays itself telling me that "the message could not be sent because connecting to server smtp.yahoo.com failed"

I have Webmail 1.3.2 and Webmail - Yahoo 1.3.2 extensions installed. I also have a UK Yahoo account which I understand allows these connections.

As I said, all was working fine up until a month ago, hopefully someone can help me it would be much appreciated!!!

Thanks in advance

bkennelly · Post by **bkennelly** » May 21st, 2008, 7:58 am

What are your SMTP settings?
Be certain that you checked 'use name and password' and enable SSL.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » May 21st, 2008, 8:31 am

Hi - thanks for the swift response!

I had been playing around with it at some point and the username and password were no longer there HOWEVER still doesn't work with my username or my username@yahoo.co.uk

When I try to send with either of these it just asks for my password but does not accept it (the password box just re-appears). When I cancel this request it states the "SMTP failed" message.

My SMTP settings are:

Server name: smtp.mail.yahoo.com
Port: 465
Secure Connection: SSL

Any ideas??

bkennelly · Post by **bkennelly** » May 21st, 2008, 9:50 am

Those are the settings I use, so they should be good. (Mine is a yahoo.com address, though)

Try deleting any saved passwords for the account.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » May 21st, 2008, 10:02 am

Nope, thanks but no dice. Keeps asking for password as before

Can anyone else help this is driving me crazy??

makaiguy · Post by **makaiguy** » May 21st, 2008, 10:08 am

Yahoo will no longer let you send from a different address through your primary account's SMTP connection. They changed this at their end in mid-March, and have not communicated it very well, even to their own support folks.

Two different ways to deal with this have been reported:

To send from additional addresses through your primary Yahoo SMTP server setup:
Log into your account via your browser, and add the additional addresses to your main account on your account's webmail page via Options | Mail Addresses | Add. Here's an ATT page describing the process:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/o ... om-07.html
Set up an additional SMTP entry in TBird for each of these addresses. See this article if you need help doing this: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Multiple_SMTP ... derbird%29

Guest · Post by **Guest** » May 21st, 2008, 10:28 am

Thanks Makaiguy, that's about the time this stopped working so I'm sure this is related.

However, forgive my confusion, but I don't believe I'm sending from a "different address", just from my one yahoo account that I have? Could you clarify in layman's terms!

If not, am I to add the details of my own account to itself??

makaiguy · Post by **makaiguy** » May 21st, 2008, 5:30 pm

The stuff I posted above relates to trying to send mail that indicates it comes from an address OTHER than your Yahoo address, but trying to send it through the Yahoo smtp server. I really don't know if you need to go through the process outlined in the link from point 1 to get your Yahoo address to work.

I don't use Yahoo. I can only relay what others have reported.

"Authentication", if that's what your initial error message really says, means you must prove you are authorized to use that server. You do this by sending your account name and password along with the transmission.

Menu Path:
[In Windows & OSX]: Tools | Account Settings, or
[In *nix]: Edit | Account Settings

.. then, in the left pane (if you have several accounts you may need to scroll down), Outgoing Server (SMTP)

Click your SMTP server and press Edit.

[√] Use name and password
.. and enter your account name in the User Name field. You'll be prompted for your password when you actually connect to the server, and will be given the chance for TBird to save it for automatic use on subsequent connections.

Be sure you send the account name in the format required by the server. Some want to see your full email address, some just want the portion of your address before the @, others issue a separate account ID that must be used.

This page would indicate Yahoo wants you to use just the portion of your email address before the @. Make sure it is entered correctly, with no extra spaces at beginning or end. It also indicates you should use SSL security via port 465.

However, I *think* I recall somebody posting that they found SSL didn't work for them, but it WOULD work with TLS. If I can find a reference for this, I'll post it here.

bkennelly · Post by **bkennelly** » May 21st, 2008, 5:37 pm

I use SSL with smtp.mail.yahoo.com on port 465. It will also accept insecure connections on port 587.

smtp.mail.yahoo.co.uk is also responding on both ports.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » May 22nd, 2008, 2:54 pm

Thanks for your responses guys but none of those suggestions solve the problem

Using stmp.mail.yahoo.com and port 465 with SSL I get the continuous request for my password, any other combination of stmp address and port just goes straight to the error message stating that "the message could not be sent because connecting to SMTP server smtp.mail.yahoo.co.uk failed" etc.

Does that suggest anything??

bkennelly · Post by **bkennelly** » May 22nd, 2008, 3:00 pm

You could try changing your password. Other than that, I am out of ideas. Did you write to Yahoo! help?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » May 22nd, 2008, 3:26 pm

Thanks but no luck with changed password.

A lot of people seem to have the same issue - http://ymailuk.com/blog1/2008/04/11/smtp-delays/

Anyone else out there who managed to fix this problem?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » May 23rd, 2008, 3:35 am

Bump - anyone have any ideas?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » May 25th, 2008, 12:52 am

There seems to be a lot of similar questions around the forum with none of them resolved.

Has anyone managed to fix this problem? Do you believe it to be a Thunderbird or a Yahoo issue?

If it's a Yahoo issue I shall change my email account.

Thanks

Rod Whiteley · Post by **Rod Whiteley** » May 25th, 2008, 1:40 am

There are several separate issues here, causing confusion.

One issue is that you are trying to use a .com server to send mail from a .co.uk account. Use the server: smtp.mail.yahoo.co.uk As the user name, specify only your Yahoo! user name, not your full e-mail address.

If connecting to that UK server fails, then reply here with the exact error message and also Thunderbird's status at the time the error message appears. You can see the status in the progress window and also at the bottom of the message you are trying to send.

By the way, you do not need any webmail extensions for a yahoo.co.uk account.