[IMail Forum] A Strange SMTP Problem

[Bill Yang]

We run into a strange SMTP problem. One of our mail server is located in Beijing. The users enjoy the mail service when they are in Hong Kong,Thailand, France, Germany and USA. Recently, we decided to assign a salesman to Australia. Then, the strange SMTP problem ensues. He complained to me that he has had difficulties in sending email since he came to Australia. Because he can't get broadband in Sydney, he uses local ISP's dial-up to get on the Internet. He has to keep clicking 'send' for many times in order to send one single email. However, he can download email normally. In 99% cases, he got following Outlook Express errors: The message could not be sent because one of the recipients was rejected by the server. The rejected e-mail address was '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'. Subject 'Re: Plastic laminate', Account: 'xxxxxxx', Server: 'xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx', Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: '500 error', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 500, Error Number: 0x800CCC79 The SMTP server returned an error. Account: 'xxxxxxx', Server: 'xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx', Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: 'for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Error Number: 0x800CCC60 I checked Imail log files, only contain the following records: 20030224 060025 127.0.0.1       SMTPD (049E0132) [203.206.23.156] EHLO KenWu 20030224 060026 127.0.0.1       SMTPD (00000538) Authenticated [EMAIL PROTECTED], session treated as local. 20030224 060027 127.0.0.1       SMTPD (049E0132) [203.206.23.156] MAIL FROM:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 20030224 060027 127.0.0.1       SMTPD (049E0132) [203.206.23.156] RCPT TO:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 20030224 060031 127.0.0.1       SMTPD (049F0132) [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx] connect 203.206.23.156 port 3021   There is nothing any more. At first, I think that it's because Imail refuses to relay email from Australia, so I set imail to relay email from Australia. It doesn't work at all. At my wit's end, I suggest him to use a local ISP's smtp server. He followed my suggestion and used froggy.com.au's smtp server. This time, it appears that he can send email in Outlook Express. But recipients can receive nothing. He sent email to himself and recieved nothing too. I don't know what the root of the problem is. Any gurus, who can give me some suggestions, would be greatly appreciated!   Best regards, Bill Yang