Email Problems again

[Paul Cooper]

Hi All,

Sorry but after searching the forum it appears this is a rather common problem for users and now me! Having read all of the relevant threads I can find, I am still having problems. I have spoken to support and to my ISP and still no joy.

I have my correct Email address entered into the Order tab. Eventually after trying countless permuatations, I managed to get a test Email sent from within Network setup using a server name of auth.smtp.oneandone.co.uk, check box ticked and a user name and password (my ISP does state authentication is required) and received in Outlook. So far so good, this was uploaded in test mode and a dummy order placed by no Email to shop or to customer received. Dummy order processed and an attempt to send a shipping Email Email to customer but it was not sent due to an error. The error was a SMTP server not recognised but the Email address quoted in the error message was prefixed with a 5 digit number, in fact Support was able to replicate this on their dummy site. I was then asked by support to try the test function with network setup again and unlike before, it fails with a SMTP not regonised error. The view of support is that it is an ISP problem but after contacting them, they couldn't help.

I have once again played around with the server name etc. and now the test emails work with just a server name of auth.smtp.oneandone.co.uk and the check box unticked (user name and password greyed out). Attempts to send a mail from within Orders to a customer Email address still come up with the error and the prefixed 5 digit number such as 58323 or 58313.

Sorry it's a long explanation but this is just about the last hurdle to overcome for the new site to go live. Hoping someone can help.

Thanks

Paul

[Mike Hughes]

Is the email address you're using from the same domain as the website you're hosting with 1and1?

The usual setting for 1and1 email is the second one you're trying. i.e.

- auth.smtp.oneandone.co.uk
- No username and password (leave blank, leave box unticked).

This works for a lot of actinic users on 1and1 so at first look I would say the problem is elsewhere, hence the first question.

Mike

PS. have a look at the error log on your website ( /acatalog/error.err) as this often has useful error messages.

[Paul Cooper]

Hello Mike,

Thanks for the reply. What I am finding now is then I can get the test Email to work, shutdown and restart Actinic and then it doesn't test okay. I then re-enter a number of other permuations that don't work and end up with the original which starts working again. The method most reliable is the one you suggest but I have still got the password and user name in but greyed out.

What is a pain is that everytime I go back into production mode to try new server settings, Actinic deletes essential files from the test site which is stopping me from fully testing other features of the test site. When I go back into test mode, it takes about 90 minutes to refresh the site even though I ticked the box not to upload unchanged images, it still does.

I have checked the error file and have the following message listed 3 times:

Program = MailScri, Program version = 13 , HTTP Server = Apache/1.3.33 (Unix) , Return code = 999 , Date and Time = 2007/07/26 12:44, Internal Errors = No SMTP server is specified.

This does not mean much to me other than it clearly relates to the failed attempts to send an Email.

Yes, oneandone provides our hosting and Email services.

Thanks

[Mike Hughes]

A web 'update' is much faster than a refresh. This should make it much faster when testing and trying new things.

Does the rest of the network test pass successfully?

Mike

[Paul Cooper]

Mike,

Unfortnately an update does not upload the files deleted when going back to production mode hence the next to refresh - this was after getting a number of 404 errors and contacting Support today.

The rest of the network test passes except for a SSL error which has been caused by the Geotrust certificate being in the name of technobots.co.uk but the site is www.technobots.co.uk. I have contacted Geotrust to see if this can be corrected. The test site if it helps is here http://www.technobots.co.uk/actalog/test

Thanks, Paul.

[wjcampbe]

Username and password greyed out is normal when the authentication required box is not ticked - the information is not needed.

If you do try again with authentication, remember the mailbox user is the m999999-9 type number, not the friendly name me @ mysite

I do not use authentication in Actinic (which sends its mail from the server) but do in Outlook (which is a desktop mail client and sends mail from the PC).

[Paul Cooper]

Bill,

I did start off with a user name that started with pt-xxxxxxx-1001 but that would not work at all but did start to work when the actual Email address was used instead. My newer Email addresses start with a m- etc.

So as I understand it, authentication is not required when the server sends out Email order confirmations. When I send out a shipping conformation in the Actinic dektop environment, does this again send the Email direct from the server or does it send it via Outlook? My Outlook is configured with authentication otherwise it does not appear to work.

Thanks, Paul

[Mike Hughes]

Actinic sends all emails from the server. The ones from the PC application are http'd up to the server and sent from there.

Your erro log has this message, which support the case (using this server) for leaving the smtp authentication turned off

Program = MailScri, Program version = 13 , HTTP Server = Apache/1.3.33 (Unix) , Return code = 999 , Date and Time = 2007/07/26 12:21, Internal Errors = Error returned from SMTP server (1: SMTP Authentication is not supported by this server!)

I'm no longer clear what the remaining problem is. It should work with the settings Bill and I have given you. There shouldn't be any need to try different permutations. Use the correct settings and then let's see what the errors are.

Mike

[Paul Cooper]

Hi Mike,

Okay, I have auth.smtp.oneandone.co.uk in the server name. The check box unticked and no entries in the username or password. When I test I get:

The computer you specified as your mail server is not a valid mail (SMTP) server. Check the computer name or address and try again. If it fails again, then it is possible, you were locked out by a firewall program, or you don't have network connection to this server.

Followed by:

Actinic Mail Test completed successfully
server: passed
connection: passed
sockets: passed
communications: failed
authorisation: failed
message: SMTP Authentication is not supported by this server!

I am now trying this from home on a different computer but getting the same results.

I do appreciate the assistance.

[Paul Cooper]

After the above error messages I simply closed down Actinic but left the PC on. Just returned, ran Atinic again and now it passes the network setup test. I then attempted an Email send from within a test order and got the following error message:

Failed to communicate with the SMTP server.

Possible Cause:
1. Network transmission problems.
2. Could have Changed the SMTP Server settings, but not Uploaded after that.

Recommendation:
1. Retry
2. Upload the Site First, if you have changed the SMTP Server Settings.

Resolution:
If retry fails, check your SMTP settings
or contact your ISP.

The error was:
58313paul@m2xt.netNo SMTP server is specified

Command: send Filename:

I returned to the test function in network setup and it still tests okay.

[wjcampbe]

Paul, is this the email address you have configured in Business Settings?

The email address you use on your actinic site should be from the domain of the actinic site so you need something@ technobots.com

[Paul Cooper]

Hi Bill,

The Email address configured in Actinic both in the business settings and the network setup are the same sales at technobots address. The m2xt is my personal email address which was entered into the dummy order to test the Email functionality. This ultimately would be a customers email address to which they would be sent an automatic confirmation of order placement and manually sent a confirmation of shipping once the goods are ready. My personal address is also with oneandone which I assume should not make any difference.

I note in the above error that it suggests uploading the site again which is happening now but it takes some 90 minutes.

[Paul Cooper]

Success!!

In summary, to get it to work for me:

Although my Email account requires authentication for Outlook, it is not required for Actinic which is exactly what Bill and Mike advised. However, for some reason, Actinic does not appear to register a new server name until either actinic is rebooted or a number of permutations are tried ending up with the correct one. This allows the network test to pass but still does not allow the sending of Emails from the orders tab until the site is uploaded. It cannot be standard upload but a site refresh upload.

Some redherrings as well with the network test passing this morning with authentication but failing later the same day after uploading. Also, Actinic support were convinced the problem was with oneandone which was not in the end the case.

I just hope it is still working in the morning. Thanks again to Bill and Mike for the tips.

[Duncan Rounding]

With 1and1 now I think you have to send and receive an email using an email client before the account will work with SMTP. There is a note in the 1and1 CP that says 'To send e-mail using the SMTP-Server, activate SMTP Authentication' which is I think is misleading.

Local (server) SMTP authentication (following the initial email send/receive in the email client) is not required.