Cannot access mail server

[SonicVanguard]

This looks to be the right place for this issue - if it's not, the mods are of course free to move it.

My neighbor is an older single lady that knows very little about computers other than how to run the various programs she needs. Up until two weeks ago, her 30ish son lived with her but he's finally moved on to a new gig in the southwest. They had a broadband connection shared through a router. When her son moved, he took the router and set up her system to connect directly to the cable modem (comcast). But now, she has no problems browsing any web page, but she cannot access her mail server by an means - her mail client (Thunderbird) cannot send/receive nor can she access Comcast's webmail. Of course Comcast blamed her using Thunderbird and they walked her through setting up OE, that didn't work either.

On the rarest of ocassions she can access her mail server - but it's very rare. To the point that she can download messages one moment, and a minute or so later, the server does not respond.

When I got home this afternoon, she asked me to come over and take a look - I'm certainly no expert, but I think I'm fairly capable at least looking the system over. I ran WINIPCFG and she had a IP address, DNS server info - everything. Next I tried to PING her mail server. No luck. I could PING any other type of server, but I could not PING any mail server (I tired our mail server at the studio, The Grand Valley State mail server, the Michigan State mail server, and the SBC mail server). From my house, (I also have Comcast) she has no troubles connecting to Comcast's webmail.

Her system specs are:
Windows 98se and it looks like she checks for updates regularly.
768Meg of RAM
Kingston 10/100 NIC
Linksys cable modem (unsure of model)
Latest version of ZoneAlarm Free

Comcast is now blaming her modem - I have my doubts on that. But what could possibly be causing this problem?

Dave.

[Floppyman]

Hi Dave,

Does she have any software firewall installed that might block it?

Have you tried telneting into the mail server. From the command prompt:

telnet yourmailserver 110

Does that work at all? HTH

[SonicVanguard]

ZoneAlarm Free does not appear to be blocking the mail server(s) or port 110. I even disabled it and I could not access any.

I have not tried telnet. I should have some time later tonight to help her out again.

Anyone else with any suggestions/ideas before tonight please post.

TIA.

Dave.

[Ezestuff]

Why don't you just telnet and make sure it is accessible? I had a similar problem for a couple of weeks and found out that the mail server was not blocking which was located on another host and my isp was not blocking it either but I only had the smtp problem for sending so I use my isp's mail server for sending.
Ezestuff-

[dsl boy]

if she uses norton antivirus this might help. norton recenty put out an update that can possibly block ports 110 and 25. they put out a fix update a few days later, but we're still getting calls from people with the same problem who have their norton set to update at a certain time during the week.

also, removing and recreating her account in oe or thunderbird could never hurt.

a traceroute can tell you where your request is getting lost or blocked, i.e. (in command prompt):

tracert (your mail server)

you should be able to tell if it is getting out of your lan or where it is dropping in the wan. if doesn't make it out of the lan, its on the pc. if drops in wan the isp will still deny anthing is wrong.

make sure your dns servers are set in your tcp/ip for the ethernet card via control panel-network. some mail clients couldn't find their ass with two hands. substituting ip addresses for mail servers would have the same effect, but setting dns server addresses can never hurt.

hope it helps
good luck

[SonicVanguard]

Well I finally had a chance to look over her system. I could not telnet to the mail server (or any mail server) or run a trace route. So I disabled everything (AV, firewall, & messenger service) and I could connect (telnet, tracert, & e-mail client). Then I enabled the messenger service - I could connect - I enabled the firewall - I could connect - I enabled the AV - I could not connect. The AV is Norton 2004, so I downloaded the latest LiveUpdate and installed that and then ran LiveUpdate since I did find something in their support section about not connecting to a mail server. That didn't help. Her subscription is almost up, so I though I'd try a different AV program - just to see if that would help matters. I tried AVG Free, PC-Cillin 2005(trial), and NOD32(trial) and none of them would allow me access to the POP mail server if e-mail scanning was enabled. Turn off e-mail scanning, no problems.

I couldn't find anything (Google, About.com, each company's support pages) regarding this problem. And Comcast just says to turn off the e-mail scanning (FAQ and speaking with their tech support).

I guess what worries me is that most virii infect systems via e-mail. And in her case, I'd say that's about the only way she's going to get a virus since she doesn't buy new programs - she's happy using Microsoft Works, Thunderbird & Firefox as well as playing a few games. Any one have any ideas to the fix for this?

TIA.

Dave.

[glc]

Disable the messenger service - all this does is give you popups up the wazoo.

Try AVG again, and manually configure the personal e-mail scanner.

http://forum.pcanswers.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=26613

[SonicVanguard]

Thanks GLC - I saw all that stuff under AVG's e-mail scanning and wondered if any of that had something to do with this. She's out of town for a few days, but I'll report back when I have a chance to play with the settings.

Dave.

[SonicVanguard]

Originally Posted by glc Disable the messenger service - all this does is give you popups up the wazoo. Try AVG again, and manually configure the personal e-mail scanner. http://forum.pcanswers.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=26613

Worked like a charm GLC - Thanks!

Dave.