Incoming mail server not responding

Fogmatic

Vista Home Premium SP2.
Problem started yesterday between 1.11 & 1.18 pm (just as I was expecting a plane ticket to arrive!).
Can't download email, all other internet stuff works fine. On opening Thunderbird , progress bar activity & 'connected to eircom.net' carry on till it's closed. (I can still send email while that's going on). The server settings are correct (& have been the same for years).

Same problem with Windows Mail, which shows similar wording, & Error Ox800CCC19, which means 'a timeout occurred while communicating with the server'. I hadn't tried Windows Mail for a long time, let alone changed any settings in it.

Tried (in both Thunderbird & Win. Mail) in my other computer, which I hadn't even had on for weeks; same problem.

Have tried temporarily turning off in turn; email scanning in AVG Free ver. 10.0.1410, the whole of AVG, & Windows Firewall. No other antivirus or firewall installed. Disabled all possibly interfering apps from Windows Startup (no difference), then in the Sysinternals utility Autoruns (ditto).

I was wondering if Eircom had changed the name of its POP server from mail1.eircom.net. A search for Eircom incoming server brought up 'webmail.eircom.net', but I didn't think it sounded right? (I tried it anyway; no difference).

I also wondered if some problem could have arisen with keeping my Eircom email address (I haven't been their customer for years).

All looks ok when I ping mail1.eircom.net.
I read a suggestion somewhere to try pinging 'telnet mail1.eircom.net', but it wasn't recognised as a command (when it fails it's a firewall issue apparently, but turning my firewall off made no difference).

I started 2 threads in the 'talk to Eircom' forum, but maybe the weekend's the wrong time. If people respond here, I'll stick to this thread & delete the others (or link in them to this discussion).

Fogmatic

Forgot to mention I checked for overly large/damaged emails on the server (via mail2web), none of the few waiting there are large, and they all open & read ok.

Fuzzy Clam

Fogmatic wrote: »

I was wondering if Eircom had changed the name of its POP server from mail1.eircom.net. A search for Eircom incoming server brought up 'webmail.eircom.net', but I didn't think it sounded right? (I tried it anyway; no difference).

Thats interesting as mine is mail.eircom.net (not mail1)

What length have you got set until mail on the server is deleted? I had a problem like yours a while ago and realised that mail was never deleted. Changing it to 5 days sorted the problem.

swampgas

Fogmatic wrote: »

...

I read a suggestion somewhere to try pinging 'telnet mail1.eircom.net', but it wasn't recognised as a command (when it fails it's a firewall issue apparently, but turning my firewall off made no difference).

You can test access to the POP3 mail server by using "telnet mail1.eircom.net 110" (not "ping telnet ..."). Telnet is a console application that will allow you to interact manually with the mail server, but you need to have some idea what you are doing ...

Here are two links that explain it in detail.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/187785
http://techhelp.santovec.us/pop3telnet.htm

Fogmatic

Thanks Fuzzy Clam. I wish I could find a place that simply gives the correct Eircom POP server name(s) is, in whatever different circumstances (the Eircom website seems too frightened of long words to be much help).

Well, that's 3 different POP server names I've tried with so far (apart from mail1.eircom.net, which I've used as long as I can remember), mail2.eircom.net, webmail.eircom.net and now mail.eircom.net (no joy).
I checked my server deletion thing, which is set to not leave mail on the server at all, once downloaded to Thunderbird (I now remember choosing that setting years ago).

Thanks for the links swampgrass. Useful stuff, but Telnet seems to require a dialup connection, which isn't possible in my area. Also, I can already do (via mail2web) the things it seems to do (seeing the size, headers and lines of message text at the server).

I guess my next step (apart from more searching) is to contact my ISP in case they've changed any settings.

Going away on Wed. for a week, so might have to put the problem on hold for a bit.
Will be in the UK, where BT won't have a non-BT address as sender (though I've been told of something to try re security settings). So using webmail over there to receive as well as send won't be much more bother!

Fogmatic

Have now asked ISP if mail1.eircom.net still correct for me, & there seems to be a problem at the server (am awaiting further developments).

swampgas

Fogmatic wrote: »

Useful stuff, but Telnet seems to require a dialup connection, which isn't possible in my area. Also, I can already do (via mail2web) the things it seems to do (seeing the size, headers and lines of message text at the server).

Actually when Thunderbird connects to the mail server, it is doing pretty much the same thing as a telnet to port 110. There is no difference between broadband and dial-up when it comes to pulling down email, as far as I know. Is it possible Eircom restricts access to the POP3 server to dial-up connections? Have you switched from dial-up to broadband recently?

Either way, if telnet to the mail server fails, Thunderbird is going to fail as well.

FSL

swampgas wrote: »

Either way, if telnet to the mail server fails, Thunderbird is going to fail as well.

The OP has not tried to telnet to the mail server according to his post "I read a suggestion somewhere to try pinging 'telnet mail1.eircom.net', but it wasn't recognised as a command"

java

eircom mail settings are on the front page of their support site:

http://support.eircom.net/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/&/?St=58&E=0000000000304545935&K=2917&Sxi=15

johnciall

Telnet isn't installed by defuzalt on win vista you need to install it, hence getting the "not a recognices command error"

java

Fogmatic wrote: »

Have now asked ISP if mail1.eircom.net still correct for me, & there seems to be a problem at the server (am awaiting further developments).

Only eircom can tell you about problems with their service. So I'd take what your ISP says with a grain of salt unless they can provide proof.

johnciall

java wrote: »

Only eircom can tell you about problems with their service. So I'd take what your ISP says with a grain of salt unless they can provide proof.

Potentially it's been causing problems all day/weekend and they have confirmation from eircom regarding a fault

Fogmatic

Swampgas; Thanks. The telnet instructions I read required a dialup connection must have been around for a while. Telnet could be useful here after all (eg if the browser didn't work so webmail was impossible).
I haven't tried telnet to my outgoing server (I can send mail ok), but will if I get time (should work, & confirm I'm typing the command in correctly etc).
Dialup/broadband story slightly complex (prob. superflous); had phone + dialup with Eircom, then phone + dialup with UTV, still via (terrible) Eircom copper line; 98SE struggled to dial up, & new computers completely defeated. 18 months later Wimax luckily appeared on the horizon (in 2009). I'm sure I'd already been using mail1.eircom.net for incoming mail for years; I'm still using it (till last Friday, that is).

Thanks Java - I hadn't found that page with searching for 'mail', 'settings' etc, so didn't bother trying the Broadband page!
An Eircom man also posted the settings today in another thread, and they're the same.
I still don't understand how my incoming server name that's worked for years is different from the only one given by Eircom.
(Unless they changed its name from mail1.eircom.net to webmail.eircom.net at lunchtime on Friday....)

Thanks johnciall. It was when reading the instructions via swampgas's links for installing Telnet that I got thrown off course by the dialup thing.

An Eircom man said 4 hours ago (in a third thread around this subject) that he didn't know of a server issue. I texted to my provider to that effect, & should get an answer soon (unless he got blown off the hilltop).

java

johnciall wrote: »

Potentially it's been causing problems all day/weekend and they have confirmation from eircom regarding a fault

This would only be true regarding a broadband line fault. As far as I know eircom don't resell email services to other providers.

johnciall

java wrote: »

This would only be true regarding a broadband line fault. As far as I know eircom don't resell email services to other providers.

Your correct they don't, however they don't close peoples Email account if they move there Broadband elsewhere, I know quite a few people who have an eircom email address and aren't with eircom for BB or phone

java

johnciall wrote: »

Your correct they don't, however they don't close peoples Email account if they move there Broadband elsewhere, I know quite a few people who have an eircom email address and aren't with eircom for BB or phone

Agreed but my point still stands, eircom aren't obliged to tell any providers of issues with their email service.

Fogmatic

When I went away for a week or so, I still couldn't download mail into Thunderbird. I've now come back to find I can. Mysterious.