The mail server sent an incorrect greeting

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ttocsmij
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Joined: February 4th, 2006, 10:16 pm

The mail server sent an incorrect greeting

Post by ttocsmij »

Hopefully this will be in the correct place ... it regards an error message that IMail is apparently sending when a new Thunderbird user attempts to send an email through his ISP (Infoblvd). The email was initiated by clicking on a MAILTO link on a web page. The ISP server is set up as an SMTP server. When the user clicks on SEND, the progress window pops up, gets about 30% and an error window pops up stating:

! An error occurred sending mail: The mail server sent an incorrect greeting: +OK X1 NT-POP3 Server infoblvd.net (IMail 8.20 182801-10)

Infoblvd does not recognize this error. In fact they are puzzled by the mention of "POP3" in reference to their SMTP server.

The user is able to read email from the Infoblvd email server using Thunderbird but is unable to send mail back through.

Does anyone recognize this error message and what it might mean? Or, what it might have to do with the user being unable to send email out?

Thank you kindly.
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tanstaafl
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Post by tanstaafl »

You could get more details by enabling SMTP logging. Any possibility the user mistakenly configured a POP server as the SMTP server in tools -> account settings?

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Session_logging_for_mail/news
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ttocsmij
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Post by ttocsmij »

Thanks for the feedback, tanstaafl. I will try to activate this SMTP logging and present something later this week. In the mean time, the POP and SMTP server names are both: infoblvd.net. I've always thought it odd that they would be the same but it has worked for years in my other system so it must be okay somehow. Have a great week. BTW, are you a Robert A. Heinlein, Milton Friedman, or Edwin G. Dolan fan?
"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!" - Mark Twain
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ttocsmij
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Post by ttocsmij »

Update: I logged in as the admin and went surfing. Clicked on an email link and Thunderbird swung into action creating an account so it could process the email request. Finished the creation process and the email went out without a hitch. Logged out and logged back in as the user ... now Thunderbird refuses to send the email and delivers the same error message as before. So I killed that account and re-created it using the exact same data as was used to create the account under the admin login and ... zip. Thunderbird still refuses to send the email claiming it is getting the funky error message detailed above. Let me guess ... Thunderbird only works if one is logged as the admin or as a user with admin rights???
"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!" - Mark Twain
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ttocsmij
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Post by ttocsmij »

logging results ...

IMAP:
nothing

POP:
nothing

NNTP:
nothing

SMTP:
0[2343e0]: SMTP Connecting to: infoblvd.net
0[2343e0]: SMTP entering state: 0
0[2343e0]: SMTP Response: +OK X1 NT-POP3 Server infoblvd.net (IMail 8.20 436245-4)
0[2343e0]: SMTP entering state: 15
0[2343e0]: SMTP entering state: 12
0[2343e0]: SMTP entering state: 13

looks more and more like an IMail set up problem to me ... but why does it work when I log in as an admin but not when I log in as a user?!?!?!?!?

Anyone have any ideas?

cheers
jim
"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!" - Mark Twain
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tanstaafl
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Post by tanstaafl »

The release notes state:

"When installing as a restricted access user on a shared machine into a location that you can write to, there may still be negative side effects (default email/other keys not being set correctly). The email client should still function however. When installing as a restricted access user do not attempt to install over an installation in a restricted-access/shared location as this may destroy that installation."

I don't intrepret "no admin rights" as "restricted access". I'd assume that even if you had restricted rights this is no worse than installing a zip'd version of Thunderbird which can run, but because there is no setup program doesn't modify the windows registry for mailto: URLs or SimpleMAPI support, neither of which are needed if you launch Thunderbird yourself.

>SMTP Response: +OK X1 NT-POP3 Server infoblvd.net (IMail 8.20 436245-4)
Is the same mail server used for both POP3 and SMTP?
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ttocsmij
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The mail server sent an incorrect greeting

Post by ttocsmij »

I did read the release notes which is why I installed Thunderbird while logged in as administrator. I got the impression that this way any critical system files/settings would be properly set up for other users when they are logged in.

And, in fact, when logged in as user, the mailto: links function fine ... in that they start Thunderbird, insert the parameter values in the correct places, etc..

The problem comes when one tries to send message ... about 30% of the way into the status bar the error message described heretofore appears. It dies the same whether Thunderbird was running or not (before clicking on the email link).

It looks like Thunderbird initiates the send process but when the iMail software on the Infoblvd server responds with (apparently) a POP3 response, it faults out (expecting a different response I guess).

This is why I suspect the Infoblvd server's response but my friends at Infoblvd do not seem to know the iMail program intimately enough for this level of troubleshooting. And the post at the iMail site (http://www.ipswitch.com/forums/messages.aspx?ForumID=10) has gone unacknowledged as well.

Yes, Infoblvd uses "infoblvd.net" for both receive (POP3) and send (SMTP) ... both on port 110.

Now here is an interesting post: http://support.ipswitch.com/kb/IM-19990628-DM03.htm

Am I reading this properly? The upper case lines (eg, +OK X1...) are coming from the iMail program which is responding to something sent by Thunderbird, correct? Maybe Thunderbird is sending the wrong initiation string!! How can we tell what Thunderbird is sending to the server? Maybe since the POP and SMTP server names are the same, Thunderbird is assuming it uses the same command protocol for sending as it did for receiving (which would be incorrect in this case). It does explain the problem although it I suspect it means I am screwed for a solution.

What do you think?
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ttocsmij
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Post by ttocsmij »

okay Thunderbird fans ... if I log in as the Administrator, I can click on HREF email links and send email to my heart's content ... but if I log out and back in as a User, we are back to the same problem (when Thunderbird sends the email request to the server, it uses a POP3 format instead of SMTP even though the Outgoing Server settings are all clearly SMTP). I suspect now that Thunderbird (from the User profile) is "seeing" that both Incoming (POP3) and Outgoing (SMTP) have the same name (infoblvd.net) and just assumes that both are POP3! So it sends a POP3 request which of course Infoblvd responds to in kind. Anyone have any ideas? I refuse to use Outlook so unless someone can figure this out I guess I'll have to go back to Communicator.
"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!" - Mark Twain
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tanstaafl
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Post by tanstaafl »

POP and SMTP are different protocols that use different ports. One of email providers uses the same mail server for POP3, IMAP and SMTP and it doesn't bother Thunderbird.

"+OK" is the standard success response in the POP3 protocol. It isn't used in SMTP. It uses numbers. For example, you typically get a "250" when a command succeeds, though the first response when you make a connection to the SMTP starts with a "220". Getting a POP3 response to a SMTP server command is why I'm suspicious about your account settings.

Here's the beginning of a SMTP log file for my sending a message using a mail.messagingengine.com mail server:

0[274920]: SMTP Connecting to: mail.messagingengine.com
0[274920]: SMTP entering state: 0
0[274920]: SMTP Response: 220 frontend2.messagingengine.com ESMTP . No UCE permitted.
0[274920]: SMTP entering state: 15
0[274920]: SMTP Send: EHLO [192.168.0.100]

Notice the "220 frontend2.messagingengine.com ESMTP . No UCE permitted." Thats the type of string Thunderbird expected.

Here's a similar excerpt from a POP3 log for yahoo (using Ypops! to emulate a POP3 server)

0[274920]: Entering NET_ProcessPop3 29
0[274920]: POP3: Entering state: 1
0[274920]: POP3: Entering state: 2
0[274920]: POP3: Entering state: 4
0[274920]: RECV: +OK POP3 YPOPs! proxy ready

Notice the "+OK POP3 YPOPs! proxy ready"

I suggest you sign up for a free POP account somewhere and get it working just to convince yourself that Thunderbird can work. If you want a gmail invitation send me a private message with your email address. Using a Ypops! add-on with a free yahoo webmail account also works well.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_webmail ... ail_client
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tanstaafl
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Post by tanstaafl »

>Yes, Infoblvd uses "infoblvd.net" for both receive (POP3) and send (SMTP) ... both on port 110.

I looked at the outlook instructions at http://home.infoblvd.net/page.asp?page=setup_o2002 and see nothing that indicates you should use a non-standard port for SMTP. SMTP normally uses port 25, not 110. POP3 normally uses 110.

That would explain why you got the standard response from a POP3 server when you tried to send a message.
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ttocsmij
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Post by ttocsmij »

Actually none of the settings instructions @ Infoblvd specify port numbers (they must assume that all software uses the specified defaults). When I checked the Thunderbird server settings, both were set to 110 so I set the SMTP to 25 and sure enough it is now working. So I logged out and logged back in as the administrator and SMTP was already set to 25 (which would explain why it worked I presume).

Now I have to work on my Netscape account which I can't get even get into ... it is IMAP and the port defaulted to 143. So I tried 110 and 25; neither worked so I have to try and get ahold of Netscape (a monumentous task I assure you) to find out what port they want to see!

I found this page (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_Netscap ... hunderbird) searching but it is useless ... lots of generic instruction but no mention of the actual Netscape email server names. The last name I got out of Netscape was "imap.mail.netcenter.com" but most of the time I can't get into it even from the computer downstairs that does occassionally connect to it. I have never been able to hit it from the upstairs computer.

Anyhow, thanks again for the assist. And have a great day!
"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!" - Mark Twain
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ttocsmij
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Post by ttocsmij »

As a follow-up to the Netscape email server access problems, the Netscape service was undergoing a transformation (ie, being "absorbed" so to speak by AIM) so they were concentrating all their efforts on that. The "new" Netscape IMAP server works like a charm so the access problem went away (as did that old Netscape IMAP server address). Thanks again to everyone who put up with me on this one.
"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!" - Mark Twain
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