email error rejected by server

[racerbrownn]

using outlook express at work on either the win98 or xp pc, any mail i try to send gives me this error.
wheres a good place to start since internet access is ok.

[KHT]

A good place to start is making sure your POP3 and SMTP settings are correct in Outlook.

Other than that, we need *WAY* more info. Are you networked, using Exchange server, domain, workgroup, etc....

[racerbrownn]

i use pop-server.mn.rr.com and smtp-server.mn.rr.com for my server settings which is what i use for my home pc also which works fine.
my work email used to work ok till lately.
the affected pc's are on a lan with 5 other pc's into a 10 port switch and then onto the dsl router and out of the building.
i can use internet fine.
i found that i can also logon to my cable website and use their email program to send receive as well.
still, outlook express is faster to run as my cable requires several logons to reach email. all pc's are in the same workgroup and show up in network neiborhood as well.
any ideas??

[KHT]

You said everything worked fine until lately. Was there any new AV software installed that might have a software firewall or port blocker with it that is enabled and blocking Outlook. I have Mailwasher and ZoneAlarm, and on rare occasions ZA will block MailWasher even though it is granted access. In fact, sometimes ZA will even block the DNS servers.

Try to look at anything different that may have been installed when the problem started happening.

edit...it can`t hurt checking Outlooks settings also. tools\options\connections. Under internet connection settings, click change. Make sure Outlook is using the same connection as your internet and not trying to access the mail server with another one.

[racerbrownn]

come to think of it, we had to replace the dsl modem because of line noise issues with the fax machine. i don't remember if the email went wacky right after that but it has been fritzed for a while.
i'll check the connections you mentioned when i get to work again.

[azscary]

The issue appears to be Port 25 blocking. ISP's do that to avoid access to their outgoing (SMTP) servers by people who are not their customers. The idea is for security.

As an example, if your ISP is Bob's Internet and you email address is user@bobsinternet.com, then your email SMTP server would likely be SMTP.BOBSINTERNET.COM ,but when you are at work, they use Jim's Internet as their ISP, you would have to use their email server SMTP.JIMSINTERNET.COM unless your ISP provides an authentication SMTP server to verify your account.

[racerbrownn]

i see!
funny how the old modem didn't block like this but the new modem and software upgrade may have this new security feature.
i assume that i'll not be able to configure outlook express to access my email thru the modems server easily and i should probably just get used to loging on to my isp's home page to get my email when remote? not a big deal but i see where security enhancements get to be a pain sometimes.

thankx for the info, ray.

[azscary]

Who is your ISP and who is the DSL at work through?

[racerbrownn]

road runner cable vs qwest dsl....i win!! except for the email thing.
using the email program thru the rr website is not a big deal.
reminds me a little of aol.

[azscary]

Qwest and RR both do port 25 blocking.

On the DSL, you may have to use their SMTP server with a valid Qwest acct login to authenticate. If you do make sure that your email addy is in the reply to on the account settings or if someone tries to reply to an email it will try to go to the Qwest server and bounce back as a 550 authentication error. Unfortuantely when you go home, this will not work on the cable.

If RR has an authentication server, simply setting the smtp-server.mn.rr.com to use outgoing authentication and using the email addy as the acct name and password in the outgoing server authentication window may also work. This option if available should work on both the DSL and the cable.