Microsoft Outlook Help Needed - Outgoing Server

hc

:mad:

Hi folks, hoping somebody out there can help me as I'm desperate!

I am by no means an amateur when it comes to computers but I am at my wit's end!

Long story so bear with me please.

Right...

My parents have a place in Portugal and as they visit it regularly, they purchased a little Samsung Netbook to keep over there to check emails etc.

They are both set up as identities in Microsoft Outlook and are able to RECEIVE emails without any problem. However, when they try to SEND emails, that's where the trouble starts. This has been ongoing since September 2009 and I am desperate to fix it for them so I can have some peace!

At first, an error kept popping up about outgoing servers (I don't have the exact wording to hand, sorry). So, with difficulty I tracked down the outgoing servers for Vodafone Portugal (my parents use a pay-as-you-go dongle thingy) and tried these, but to no avail.

They then asked Irish friends over there what servers they are using, and their friends have never had to change their outgoing server from their normal Irish settings.

So then we changed it back to their normal Irish settings and tried that again. Now they have a SMTP Error 550 5.1.1. popping up and again a message about outgoing servers but also saying something like "SpamHouse has blocked their outgoing message"

So I thought it was their AVG being over cautious and blocking their outgoings because they were regarded as SPAM (which they are not!). My dad then tried to send after switching off any filters he could find, but again, no luck. (he is not a computer whizz or anything, so I would prefer to check this myself when I get my hands on the netbook!)

They are not sending to any "dodgy" email addresses. All email addresses are ones that they would typically reply to when in Ireland, without any problem.

So...

Does anyone know what else I can try?!

They are in Portugal until Sunday, and then I fly out, so I can try to fix the problem while I'm out there.

The mails that they try to send from Portugal sit in their Outbox, and as soon as they switch the Netbook on back in Ireland, the mails send straight away! So unfortunately it is only a problem IN Portugal, and therefore I can only try to fix it while I'm out there. (Awful shame..!)

Many many thanks in advance for any advice provided.

hc

PapaQuebec

I suggest they (or you) contact whoever their ISP is in Portugal and get the correct settings from them. You could try switching AVG off temporarily to see if it is the cause of the problem!

bhickey

This is very common now and most ISP's will insist that all outgoing e-mail goes through their own SMTP servers. For example, even in Ireland Eircom (mail1.eircom.net) & Vodafone (mail.vodafone.ie) sometimes enforce a similar setup. It should be straightforward enough for you to find out what the correct setting is for that particular ISP and then show your parents how to change it in Outlook on their computer.

Of course remember to change it back when they're back in Ireland

Snowbat

http://www.vodafone.pt/main/particulares/Servicos/Email/Vodafone+Mail.htm

Have they tried smtp.vodafone.pt as the outgoing server for the Eircom e-mail accounts? Note that SMTP Authentication is *required*- they'll need to tick the box for My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication, select the radio button for Log on using and enter their Vodafone Portugal username and password in the boxes.



Don't worry about the Spamhaus message - that tends to come up when you try to relay e-mail through Eircom when connected to a non-Eircom ISP. If I recall correctly, it's the Spamhaus PBL which is not a list of spammers but a "database of end-user IP address ranges which should not be delivering unauthenticated SMTP email to any Internet mail server except those provided for specifically by an ISP for that customer's use". Some SMTP servers are configured to use PBL in an attempt to accept e-mail only from other legitimate SMTP servers.

bhickey

hc wrote: »

.......SMTP Error 550 5.1.1.[/B] popping up and again a message about outgoing servers but also saying something like "SpamHouse has blocked their outgoing message"

The 'SMTP Error 550' message could be popping up because the recipient e-mail address in an outgoing message is invalid. There should be some more information after the 'SMTP Error 550' bit which might help.

Also if a message can't be sent then other messages can sometimes just pile up behind it in the Outbox. Maybe clear all messages from the Outbox in Outlook and send a test message to a known good e-mail address.

monkeypants

Spamhaus also have a love/hate...mostly hate relationship with Eircom due to the amount of spam that used to be sent from Eircom accounts. If they have Eircom email accounts, any chance of trying a non-Eircom account, but with other settings unchanged?