[NTLUG:Discuss] Sending Email in Linux Problem

[Stuart Johnston]

A couple of thoughts:

Are you using SMTP Authentication?  I believe swbell requires this.

Can you send mail from Mozilla or other apps in Windows?

You might try setting up an smtp server on your linux machines and using 
the swbell server as a smarthost.  I don't know if swbell allows this or 
not though.


Chuck wrote:
> I am having a problem sending email in Linux.  The distro is Mandrake 9.1, and 
> it has worked fine for months.  This is over a DSL account  (SBC) from an 
> address that has worked flawlessly for years (cfgraf at swbell.net).  The 
> account works fine from a Windows 98 box on the same LAN, but it exhibits the 
> same error when i send from the laptop, over the same lan from the same 
> address.  The laptop uses Vector Linux (Slackware).  I use Kmail on the 
> Mandrake box, but the problem also occurs in the Mozilla email client on that 
> box.  I use Sylpheed and Mozilla on the laptop, and it exhibits this behavior 
> in that also. 
> 
> The problem is that when I send an email from the Mandrake Linux box in Kmail, 
> the message shows up in the Outbox, and the progress bar at the bottom of the 
> screen goes to 88 to 97%.  The message never disappears from the Outbox, and 
> blocks any other messages from being sent.  Now this is wierd.  The Monitor 
> in GKrellm (or the chart on the taskbar in ICEwm) shows that the CPU is 
> running at 99-100%, with pulses of data going out over eth0.  If I kill the 
> transmission with the button next to the progress bar, the message stays in 
> the Outbox, and the CPU goes back to normal.  Letting it run an hour makes no 
> difference.
> 
> In Mozilla when I send a message from either Linux box, it first says it has 
> sent, then gives me an error saying it could not contact smpt server 
> mail.swbell.net and I should check my configuration settings.  This I have 
> done many and varied times, with no success.  Sometimes the message arrives 
> at the destination, sometimes it does not, and sometimes only part of the 
> message arrives.  
> 
> The account works perfectly in Windows through the same network and router.  
> Swapping connections makes no difference.  I was trying to set up another 
> email account about the time this started, but I have abandoned that and put 
> everything back like it was.  Any ideas would be much appreciated.  Thank 
> you.
> 
> Chuck Graf