Can't send mail; but only some times

Since I updated my computers to Tiger I have the same problem on all of them.
Mail doesn't send mail, I have to quit and try again and again until it does. Read all articles about similar problems but non of them helped. As far I understand there is something going on with the port 25, but then, why some times it works some times doesn't?
Maybe I just switch to Thunderbird, but that's also a pain because Mail doesn't let one simply import to another mail program.

What does “Mail doesn't send mail” mean? What’s the problem exactly? What error messages do you get, if any? Are this mail account and the associated outgoing (SMTP) server provided by your ISP or by someone else? More info, please.

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Unable to send mail, but only at my office (!)

This one is really strange. Lots of information gathered over the last 10 days or so, on which I can't send mail through two of my accounts.
I got this new MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard factory-installed. This is not an upgrade problem.
I imported my user account from a Time Machine backup, but did not import any apps or system files. I had to install all my 3rd party apps, configure networking for my two locations (Home and Office), etc.
The problems started on 10.6.0. Mail couldn't send messages through any of my accounts. Receiving has always been OK. Updated to 10.6.1 and problems went away.
Since the 10.6.2 update, I can't send mail again, but in very special circumstances:
- Only two of my mail accounts, hosted at my hosting provider, have this problem. Gmail works flawlessly, though I feel a little lag before actual mail is sent, specially at my office;
- Only when I am at my office, where we use public IP addresses on the LAN. Everything works perfectly at home or other places (public hotspots, other networks, etc.) where private IP addresses are used on the LAN!
All other Macs at the office, which use Leopard (10.5), work fine and dandy. We don't use DHCP. All computers are configured manually and connect to the same wireless network. I already checked my firewall and both the ISP and hosting provider.
I already did everything mentioned in other threads here: repair permissions, rebuild mailboxes, everything! I even created another user account on my Mac and configured everything from scratch. I didn't re-install Mac OS X, though.
Any ideas?
Message was edited by: fdonadio

Barry,
I did that. I also tried deleting that plist and reconfiguring all my mail accounts, but that didn't work.
Then I thought I could get the problem solved by creating a new user account on my Mac -- a clean home folder should eliminate the culprit --, but it didn't work either.
I decided to give up on that, now that I can send mail anyway. I will let this question as unanswered so people can suggest possible fixes.
Thanks for caring and trying to help!
One more piece of info that can help:
- Connection Doctor showed me a red bubble for these accounts, telling me to check the username and password.
- Looking at the details (log drawer of Connection Doctor), I saw that my mail server was responding with a 250 code, but Mail waited 30 seconds to send the EHLO command. By that time, the server had timed out.
- Mail would then try again, but this time it would send a HELO command, which my mail server does not accept.

I can´t send mail but I can recive

excusme for my english, my problem is that I can recibe email, but I can-´t send email to other count, p.e. hotmail etc., and when I send an email to another user of my server, he recibe the email, but the adress is [email protected],
My nat is ok, I went to www.dnsreport.com an all is ok, I undestand that my dns is ok, but I don´t know how to change the @www.senedrac.info
my config is
Welcome to Darwin!
127-131-155-85:~ jose$ postconf -n
command_directory = /usr/sbin
config_directory = /etc/postfix
daemon_directory = /usr/libexec/postfix
debugpeerlevel = 2
enableserveroptions = yes
html_directory = no
inet_interfaces = all
mail_owner = postfix
mailboxsizelimit = 0
mailbox_transport = cyrus
mailq_path = /usr/bin/mailq
manpage_directory = /usr/share/man
mydomain_fallback = localhost
myhostname = senedrac.info
mynetworks_style = host
newaliases_path = /usr/bin/newaliases
queue_directory = /private/var/spool/postfix
readme_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix
relayhost = [email protected]
sample_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix/examples
sendmail_path = /usr/sbin/sendmail
setgid_group = postdrop
smtpdtls_keyfile =
unknownlocal_recipient_rejectcode = 550
127-131-155-85:~ jose$

It sounds like you have more than one issue.
First.. let's just look at sending mail to outside addresses....
You have relayhost setup with an improper setting. relayhost should either be blank, if you want your server to make delivery- or it should contain the host name of your ISPs smtp server (something like smtp.isp.com). You currently have an email address in this field, that won't work.
The next issue is not real clear to me. You may need to clarify.
You say that the recipient sees "[email protected]" as the return address? The return address is set in the mail client. If you are using a mail program (Mail.app, Entourage, etc), then make sure your email address is set properly. If you are sending from WebMail, then let me know and I'll send directions to fix it.
Please provide additional information.
Specifically, try to isolate what appears to be two separate issues
1. Can not send mail to outside addresses
2. Mail sent to internal addresses is successful, but shows wrong return address
Is that correct?
Jeff

HT2500 hi - can't send mails but can receive them and use internet - pls help

Hi - please help, I can't seem to send mails but I can receive them and surf the net?

You need to open Mail>Preferences>Accounts>"Account Information" tab>and there input the required information for your Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP). Your Internet Service Provider will have the required information to give you to input here. Make sure that you also click at the end of the line "Outgoing Mail Server" on the arrows to get the dropdown list, and there click on "Edit SMTP Server List" and fill in the data in that resulting window also.

One more person who can't send mail but can receive

I sent mail last night and woke up this morning not being able to send mail.
I can receive, but can't send. I can send to my self, but can't reply to others or create new.
The email time out message say's the authentication is on. How that changed over night? Not sure.
Under Mail preferences, Account information, outgoing server settings-
I've been using 2525 with no authentication for over a year. I noticed someone suggesting 465 and 587... didn't work.
I went into advanced and saw where it IS asking for authentication (using password) but in the drop down list it doesn't give the word 'none' just like the account option had to select.
I used the connection Doctor and I have connection...
what else can I do?
Thank you for the help
Chelle

The standard TCP-port for SMTP is 25. If this doesn't work, try to authenticate to the SMTP-server with the credentials of your POP3-login. Maybe your ISP reconfigured his SMTP-servers to use aSMTP.
Some other ISP use a method called "SMTP-after-POP3". This means, that you must fetch your mail using POP3 first. After doing this, you have a specific period of time (at most ISPs 5 to 15 minutes) to send mail from the same IP-address as you have POPed before. This is for additional security.
One more reason could be that your configured SMTP-server is simply "dead" or offline for system maintenance. To check if the machine is alive, go to terminal and
ping nameofyourserver
and see if it responds. If so, try connecting on the SMTP port by typing
telnet nameofyourserver 25
These steps can provide additional information to find the cause for your problem.

Can not send mail, but do receive mail at a different location

I am on my way to college now and while staying at a hotel I can connect to the internet using the hotel high speed wired connection at the room. When I try sending mail using my MacBookPro mail application, I can not send any mail, but can however receive email. It keeps giving me error messages regarding the server for outgoing mail.

Mail Help has some articles devoted to sending problems, e.g. I can't send email or I can't send email because the connection to the server on port 25 timed out. You may want to take a look at them in case there is something there that applies to you.

Can't send mail but connection doctor says server is ok

I changed my MS Exchange username from [email protected] to [email protected] but my email address remains [email protected] So I changed my account settings (I have the exchange account set up as IMAP. I can receive messages but I cannot send. I have checked the settings a thousand times, they are correct. The funny thing is the connection doctor says my outgoing mail server connection is good "Connection and login to server succeeded", but when I try to send send a mail I get "Unable to send mail, check x y z" I don't remember the error exactly because now the send button is just grayed out when I try to send from that account.

I installed Eudora and imported my mail settings from Apple Mail. I did NO entry of the server settings, it came directly from Apple Mail. I can send from Eudora but I cannot send from Apple Mail. Go figure.

New Mac Mini can't send mail, but can receive

Just received my new Mac Mini the other day but have had problems sending mail. I can receive mail, but cannot send at all. I believe I have all of my settings correct. What can I do, it's very frustrating.
rskover

One thing is for sure, I didn't find Roadrunner's http://help.rr.com/HMSLogic/emailhelptopic.aspx to be very helpful.
For the heck of it, for outgoing mail port, try custom port instead of default port and enter 25, 465, or 587 singly each one at a time and see if that buys you anything. If they use SSL (and that wasn't apparent to me from their help page whether they do or not) you would likely want to try username/password authentication for smtp.
Also, you might take a peek in Keychain Access and delete any existing entries that pertain to anything wi.rr.com. Mail would then re-prompt you for that account login information when it attempts to connect to the smtp or pop servers.
If the old computer was Leopard, have you tried copying over your $HOME/Library/Mail and $HOME/Library/Mail Downloads folders and your $HOME/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist file to the new computer?
Have you called the ISP and told them that the old computer works fine and the new computer with identical account settings doesn't and that you would like to doublecheck with them the account settings (type of account is POP? what is POP port?, what is SMTP port? verify pop and smtp server names, using SSL on POP? On SMTP? Do they use password authentication on SMTP? (If they use "None" that implies they use the WAN IP address to authenticate -- if its one of theirs, your good)
I don't think reinstalling Mail will gain you anything.
At least we know who the ISP and mail provider is, maybe another user/helper that has the same provider can weigh in here. I do not use rr.com so any other advice from me at this point would be like drawing random straws.

Can't send mail but can receive it.

All of a sudden after I brought my computer home from work I cant send my mail but I do get it. It has been working for two weeks since I've been home but now all of a sudden I cant send it out. My provider is Comcast. I'm able to get my mail and send it fine on my iPhone. My husbands Mac is working ok that is on the same network as I am at home. I've gone thru the preferences and everything looks to be fine. The gear just turns and turns trying to send mail out but never does anything. Nothing shows up in the mail activity box either. Any help would be appreciated. THANKS

Ok. I reloaded my mail account and everything is working. The only thing now is when I get mail I don't see the gray gear turning. I just get the sound at the end when its finished. How can I get the gear to show its sending mail?

Can't send mail but can receive mail

Hello fellow Mac users! I can usually figure most things out but this has me stumped. I have a Go Daddy account for my business. My Mac Mail has been working ok until recently. Now I can receive mail from the account but cannot SEND mail using the Go Daddy account! I have checked everything. It WILL work with my Entourage mail so I know it's not Go Daddy. And mailing direct from Go Daddy works fine. The fact that it works from Entourage makes me feel it's somehow Mac MAil. My gmail account is ok. My .mac account is ok. My hotmail account is ok. Again... I have checked all the usual problemss. Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

I just had this exact thing happen this morning. Go into preferences in your email and check your outbound smtp server settings. Mine inexplicably changed to "none" _all by itself_ and I couldn't send any email. Changed it back to the correct outgoing smtp server and all is well. For the life of me I can't figure out how this setting changed by itself.
Apple, "it just works".... yeah, right.
P.S. If that's not your issue then a safe bet it's a GoDaddy thing. I was paying for an email account from them for a couple of years and had nothing but problems connecting to their outbound servers that they denied was their issue and yet I found tons of people on the web having the same problem with them. I moved my domain email over to Microsoft (for free I might add) and haven't had a single issue since. I cancelled my email account with GoDaddy even though I took a small monetary loss and couldn't be happier.
Cheers!
James

Can't send mails, but can receive.

I can receive mails, but am unable to send. The error message says "a copy has been placed in your outbox. No password provided."
IT says to go to mail account settings and enter password. I can't seem to know how to do this.

I was having this problem also. I did all the steps suggested and I still could not send e-mails from one of my accounts. I found an article online that suggested the following for IOS 7 so I tried it on IOS 8 and it worked. Good luck!
Users must go into their iPhone settings, access the “Mail, Contacts and Calendars” settings, click on the effected account, access that account’s settings, click on the “Outgoing Mail / SMTP Settings” and, in the first activated SMTP server (the first one that says “on” to the right, retype their password in the password field.
Users must also make sure that their full email address is listed in the username field.
Even if there is already a password in the password field, users must retype their password.
For whatever reason, after updating to iOS 7, many email accounts retain the correct password for receiving emails but the correct password does not transfer over to the outgoing mail settings. Once the user reenters his or her password in the outgoing mail settings, they should be able to send emails from the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch without any problems!

Can't send mail, but still receive it, why?

I can no longer send mail from my computer, but I can still receive it. What is going on? This happened to my laptop first, but then seemed to just cure itself. with np intervention. Is this possibly the result of iCloud being hacked as reported in the papers? I would most appreciate any help in correcting this situation. (I've already run Disk Utility, repaired permissions and rebuilt the directory with DiskWarrior - - but these did not fix the problem.

Troubleshooting Apple Mail
What does Mail/Window/Connection Doctor Show? If the server is red, select it and look at the Show Details box.
Troubleshooting sending and receiving email messages
Troubleshooting sending email messages

Help! I can't send mail, but I can recieve

Help! I cannot send mail from the mac Mail program or my other school mail program, but I can recieve mail. I called my school computer support center and they could not figure out anything that could be wrong. What should I do? What could possibly be wrong?
eMac Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Hello Briana.
Were you able to send mail with your school email account and SMTP server previously?
Are you connected to the internet in a school dorm with an internet access provided by your school or do you live in an apartment or house?
Who is your ISP used for connecting to the internet?

TS3276 I can't send mail but can receive mails on my macbook. However, I can send mails by logging into yahoo or gmail through Safari.

I am using a macbook pro. I am not able to send any mails from my mac. I can recieve mails, but can't send.
However, I can send mails when I log into yahoo or gmail from safari.
Please give me measures to correct this issue.
Thank You.
Neel Jain
<Email Edited by Host>

I am using a macbook pro. I am not able to send any mails from my mac. I can recieve mails, but can't send.
However, I can send mails when I log into yahoo or gmail from safari.
Please give me measures to correct this issue.
Thank You.
Neel Jain
<Email Edited by Host>

Can't send mail, but can receive!

Error message when I try to send email - "This message could not be delivered and will remain in your Outbox until it can be delivered.
The connection to the server "smtp.mac.com" on port 25 timed out."
I would be very grateful for any clues as to what is wrong here. (I have to go online and use .mac to send mail. )
Thanks,
Kevin

It's gotta be an SMTP ports issue. Try going to Mail on your Mac, and from Help, select 'send and receive problems". You'll see info on troubleshooting Internet provider blocked SMTP ports.
BTW, watch out for Royce's misspelled 'SMTP' in host name (typo).
Message was edited by: Chas Hulme

Can't send mail; but only some times

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