Cant send email on mac - works fine on pc and iPhone?

[hopalong64]

I am having trouble sending email. I have had infinity for about a year, and no problems until 2 weeks or so ago.

I can receive email but when sending get this error message:-

An error occurred sending mail: SMTP server error. The server responded:  Syntactically invalid EHLO argument(s) Contact your mail administrator for assistance.

I am using Thunderbird as a mail client.

I can send fine from this email account on a PC or with my iphone, but my Imac constantly gives me the error message. My mail administrator tells me that the issue lies with the BT router, but having reset it, I can still not send emails ...

Help ....?

Thanks

[Keith_Beddoe]

It may be due to the ongoing BT Yahoo POP3 issue.

These are the settings I use for Thunderbird. (IMAP)

Using Thunderbird e-mail client

[hopalong64]

Thanks Keith

Thunderbird works perfectly when used with my PC or iphone, it is the imac that seems to be the problem.

My email administrator seems to think that BT may have updated the router software remotely and that this is now conflicting with the imac when sending email.

Web and receiving emails are all fine, and I havent changed any configuration / settings since the initial set up which worked fine... Very frustrating to say the least...

[Keith_Beddoe]

BT do not change anything on the home hub that would affect your connection.

If the iMAC is using POP3, then there have been intermittent issues with the Yahoo servers, which have been going on for a long time.

My neighbour uses Mac Mail on his iMAC, and it is setup to use the BT Yahoo IMAP servers, and he has no issues.

He used to use POP3, but when he upgraded to Mountain Lion, he moved over to using IMAP, as the new OS selected that as the default.

There was an issue where the SMTP server settings had an "apple" in front of them, which somehow got added.

Once this was removed, it all worked fine.

[Andy_N]

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@hopalong64 wrote:

I am having trouble sending email. I have had infinity for about a year, and no problems until 2 weeks or so ago.

I can receive email but when sending get this error message:-

An error occurred sending mail: SMTP server error. The server responded:  Syntactically invalid EHLO argument(s) Contact your mail administrator for assistance.

I am using Thunderbird as a mail client.

I can send fine from this email account on a PC or with my iphone, but my Imac constantly gives me the error message. My mail administrator tells me that the issue lies with the BT router, but having reset it, I can still not send emails ...

Help ....?

Thanks

---

Hi. Welcome to the forums.

The error message indicates that you have something wrong in the settings, possible wrong or extraneous characters. Lake sure that you have smtp authentication set.

When you say your "mail adminstrator", who would that be ? The mail administrator is BTYahoo!, unless you are doing something that's not typical. The fact that you can send emails from other items clearly shows it's not a BT router issue.

[hopalong64]

Thanks Keith

This is a little over my head, but I will pass onto my email admin chap to see if it helps him with diagnosis...

[hopalong64]

Andy

It seems to be something to do with the way that the router is reacting to my mac.

The set up / settings are identical on my windows pc and imac, but I cant send on the mac but can on the pc ...??

Thanks

[Andy_N]

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@hopalong64 wrote:

Andy

It seems to be something to do with the way that the router is reacting to my mac.

The set up / settings are identical on my windows pc and imac, but I cant send on the mac but can on the pc ...??

Thanks

---

Hi again.

@The first word in the error mentioning Syntax I believe is the one that really helps here. It is easy for a space character to be added to any of the details, e.g. mail server name, or possibly the smtp logon username - or even an @ symbol without btinternet.com in the email address. A space character can easily be missed.

If it was the router, then there would be other similar reports to be honest - but the error you're receiving points at something more specific in your settings.

[bhlee]

Spent two hours on the phone today with BT. They escaleted the problem to a specialist support desk, which we then had to agree to paying a £30 charge if they were able to fix the problem as they say that it is a problem with mac mail. (Which it isn't because it works fine using a different broadband connection, and we have three laptops in the house all with same problem, using outlook as well as mail).

All three laptops have been working with out fault for the last four years and just before christmas they all stopped being able to send emails using hotmail. Obviously BT have changed something somewhere along the line.

The Specialist just changed our outgoing mail server to use BTs instead. (I have been using a different SMTP server anyway as a temporary fix since christmas) Whilst we are able to send emails, we are still unable to connect to hotmails SMTP server. Still had to pay the £30 though. As far as they are concerned that still counts as a fix. Another "solution" they gave me was to change the DNS address in system preferences- Not Ideal as everytime you connect your laptop to a new network you will have to reset them.An absolute joke.

Their direct number is 08000 321 118 if you need them to talk you through it. Best to have your bank card to hand.

Livid.

[hopalong64]

Many thanks for that.

Looks like i will have to bite the bullet and settle in for a lengthy phone call or two. V frustrating as i havent changed any settings myself ...