Emails sent from TBird fail to arrive, for 1 destination
I'm a member of a mailing list. I have had troubles sending emails to this list for quite a long time. I finally figured out that it was Thunderbird causing the problem. An email sent to this list from Thunderbird does not arrive; it is possible that it is never sent, as the hosting provider said that they didn't see anything in their logs.
I tried with add-ons disabled. I tried from two different accounts (on two different providers and servers). In both cases (the different providers) if I used their web-email UI to send the emails the emails were successfully sent.
I watched the activity console and error console while sending messages; there was nothing that came up. I can't find any evidence that the emails were actually sent out; except I do see a copy of the email in my 'Sent' folder. But as far as the servers are concerned nothing was sent.
I receive messages from the list just fine, so it isn't a subscription issue. And as noted above, I can send to it if I use the web-mail UIs for either service.
So what is Thunderbird doing to the emails? How can I track more closely what is going on?
Thanks, Justin
All Replies (8)
Oh, and for 99.999% of emails sent from Tbird there are no problems. It is only to this one address. A very odd problem.
Do you get any respond? rejects ? if you send to this address and typing the address, does it get there? Is there any odd characters in short-name or address? Can your IP been blacklisted on receiving server? Might it been filtered to junk on that server?
No responses what so ever: nothing from the sending server, nothing from the receiving server. It all appears to send OK, except that the message just appears to disappear into the ether.
No odd characters in the email address. Hand typing the address doesn't help - TBird will still auto-fill with a matching result.
No blacklist problems because, as mentioned, I can send emails to the recipient if I use the web-UI to compose and send emails to that address. Same for the junk settings - it goes through OK as long as I use the web UI.
Gewysig op deur Cronk
If you really into logging your connection read this:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/MailNews:Logging The windows-script worked for me.
I don't have a MAC so I haven't tested that.
Gewysig op deur Gnospen
Interesting; I tried out the extra logging thing. I sent a message and the logs showed a whole bunch of stuff. I couldn't see anything wrong in the logs. Lo and behold, the message that I sent with logging enabled actually went through!
I turned the logging back off (via restarting Tbird in the normal manner, not using the Bash script specified) and tried sending a message again. That message FAILED to go through.
So it doesn't look like logging will solve my problem. Turning it on appears to fix the issue, but turning it off returns things to a failing state. :(
I haven't a clue hopefully someone more skilled will answer
As far as I can see the only real difference should be the logged version is slower. as the logging code must execute over and over to write the log.
What sort of Internet connection do you have? Does your provider offer some form of speed check to check network speed. It could be that your internet is so slow that the communication is running over itself.
One setting to try (this is really only for old modems and slow connections) but worth a try. is to modify the networkTCP send buffer. see http://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/i-cant-sent-mail-networktcpsendbuffer.html
If that does not ork, he only real option I see is Wireshark.
About the only way I see to move forward is to work out what is different, so we need to actually capture the traffic going over the wire external to Thunderbird in both instances to see what changes.
Internet connection is quite robust at the two primary locations I work from: home (Comcast home) and the office (Comcast business class). And this problem hasn't be transient in the past; it has been 100% present for 8-10 months at least (perhaps longer). (It's a very back burner problem. :) )
I will look into Wireshark.