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Cannot send emails from Thunderbird - error MF-505

jaycam

For years I have had two email addresses: - @virginmedia.com and an older @blueyonder.co.uk one - with no problems: POP is set up with the two servers pop3.virginmedia.com and pop3.blueyonder.co.uk. SMTP is set up with smtp.virginmedia.com for both. Everything was sweetness and light. I could receive and send from both accounts no problems.

Two weeks ago, the MF-505 relay refused error popped up when I tried to send an email from @blueyonder.co.uk and has continued to do so ever since. I can receive @blueyonder.co.uk emails with no problems. I can receive and send from @virginmedia.com with no problems. I can login to the virginmedia webmail site with @blueyonder.co.uk and send emails with no problems. Even so, I changed the @blueyonder.co.uk mail app password with Virginmedia just in case; no help. I have deleted the saved passwords and resaved them; no help. I have tried adding an @blueyonder.co.uk smtp outgoing server to Thunderbird even though I never had to before; no help. I have checked smtp server outgoing settings - even though everything works fine for @virginmedia.com. No problems there.

The general advice "out there" seems to be wait and it will resolve itself but it's been two weeks and for what it's worth Virginmedia confirm there is no problems with my account or their services their end.

any suggestions will be appreciated.

For years I have had two email addresses: - @virginmedia.com and an older @blueyonder.co.uk one - with no problems: POP is set up with the two servers pop3.virginmedia.com and pop3.blueyonder.co.uk. SMTP is set up with smtp.virginmedia.com for both. Everything was sweetness and light. I could receive and send from both accounts no problems. Two weeks ago, the MF-505 relay refused error popped up when I tried to send an email from @blueyonder.co.uk and has continued to do so ever since. I can receive @blueyonder.co.uk emails with no problems. I can receive and send from @virginmedia.com with no problems. I can login to the virginmedia webmail site with @blueyonder.co.uk and send emails with no problems. Even so, I changed the @blueyonder.co.uk mail app password with Virginmedia just in case; no help. I have deleted the saved passwords and resaved them; no help. I have tried adding an @blueyonder.co.uk smtp outgoing server to Thunderbird even though I never had to before; no help. I have checked smtp server outgoing settings - even though everything works fine for @virginmedia.com. No problems there. The general advice "out there" seems to be wait and it will resolve itself but it's been two weeks and for what it's worth Virginmedia confirm there is no problems with my account or their services their end. any suggestions will be appreciated.

All Replies (3)

Just a possibility. It may be that you are using the same SMTP server settings for both accounts. Try this:

  1. click 'account setting'
  2. highlight the blueyonderaccount in left side.
  3. click the 'edit SMTP server' button (or similar words) in lower right of screen and see if it is the blueyonder email address.
  4. if it is NOT, blueyonder, do NOT CHANGE it. that SMTP server is for the other account. Let me know.

Modified by david

Chosen Solution

Thank you for the suggestion. I had only checked 'server settings' on @blueyonder.co.uk and the main outgoing server settings. I did not know that there was anything to check by clicking on the address name.

I found that it was set to 'default' - smtp.virginmedia.com - which had worked fine for two decades. I then created a new outgoing server using smtp.blueyonder.co.uk in the main outgoing server section and changed the outgoing server in the @blueyonder.co.uk outgoing server section to this and it worked. I can now send out emails from @blueyonder.co.uk using smtp.blueyonder.co.uk and @virginmedia.com using smtp.virginmedia.com.

I presume that when I tried creating the smtp.blueyonder.co.uk server address before it was ignored because of the default setting in the server setting in the @blueyonder.co.uk main section.

Many thanks for the help.

Modified by jaycam

My pleasure. That is a common problem. I was glad to assist.

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