Thunderbird can't send messages longer than ~930 characters
Ubuntu: 20.04 LTS Kernel: 5.13.0-40-generic Thunderbird: 91.7.0 (64 bit)
Since starting service with an new ISP, I have been having problems with Thunderbird outgoing mail (incoming works fine). I did not see this problem with my previous ISP.
In both plain text and HTML formats, if the body of the email is greater than approx. 930 characters, when I click <Send>, the progress window goes to 100% sent, then hangs and eventually times out with the message not being sent. It shows an error message:
"Sending of message failed The message could not be sent usin Outgoing server for an unknown reason. Pleas verify that your Outgoing server settings are correct and try again."
I have contacted the new ISP about this and they have no idea what is causing this except it is not a problem with their SMTP host. All email settings are as directed by the new ISP.
I have confirmed this on 2 computers, both running the same software by creating messages with known character counts of over 1000 characters, created in a basic text editor, and progressively deleting characters until it is successfully sent and recounting the characters.
EDIT: After reinstalling Windows 10 and Thunderbird, I attempted so send an email with a 78Kb attachment, which failed with the message:
Sending of the message failed. The message could not be sent because the connection to Outgoing server (SMTP) smtp.seaside.ns.ca was lost in the middle of the transaction. Try again.
Further searching on the Web has led me to looking at an old thread:
https://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com/2010/10/i-cant-sent-mail-networktcpsendbuffer.html
but this had no effect.
I am at a loss, so any possible clues as to what is going on would be greatly appreciated.
Okulungisiwe ngu dimplecat
All Replies (11)
using an old modem perhaps?
this line of thought dates back to 2010. See https://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com/2010/10/i-cant-sent-mail-networktcpsendbuffer.html
Note: Use the config editor to make advanced changes.
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, no joy. I found another post suggesting setting the network.tcp.sendbuffer to 131072. Also no joy. The modem is new, having been just installed by the new ISP, but my old router makes no difference. I am still getting the
"Sending of the message failed. An error occurred while sending mail. The mail server responded: mail1.seaside.ns.ca Error: timeout exceeded. Please check the message and try again."
error.
Do you have an antivirus program scanning outgoing mail?
Hello:
In Windows, I turned off the built-in firewall, to no effect. In Ubuntu, I tried both turning off ufw completely, and adding an exception for thunderbird specifically, again to no effect.
I still find it very strange the this problem came up when the new ISP came online, but they insist there is no problem with their servers.
Thanks again,
Herbert
log the send and see exactly what is happening. Also check that the SMTP server is using authentication. It might be the provider offers some sort of access of a limited nature without authentication.
See https://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com/2021/10/logging-mail-sending-in-thunderbird.html
Hello:
As per the link you sent, and other links, I set "mailnews.smtp.loglevel" to "all", cleared the error console and sent a message. What appeared in the error console was:
"Invalid Console.maxLogLevelPref value: all"
The message is not sent.
Resetting the mailnews.smtp.loglevel to its default gives it a value of "warn".
The hunt continues...
What can I say, I tried is here, just now and received a log in the error console. That was with 91.8.1 but this stuff has not changed since before I wrote than blog post. So I went searching. I should have looked closer at what you wrote as the error I think.
Then I stumbled on this bug. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1726106#c13
Did you do the usual windows user thing, as you said in the error and enter the pref setting in lowercase. Not the original instructions. Case is important here.
Modify/set the preference mailnews.smtp.loglevel to All
Hello:
Thanks for the reply; "All" in the "mailnews.smtp.loglevel" settings produces the following:
23:19:07.564 mailnews.smtp: Sending message <6bbe2d86-938d-8163-b95a-490c34877b19@seaside.ns.ca> SmtpService.jsm:84:18 23:19:07.565 mailnews.smtp: Connecting to smtp://smtp.seaside.ns.ca:465 SmtpClient.jsm:121:17 23:19:07.671 mailnews.smtp: Connected SmtpClient.jsm:387:17 23:19:07.963 mailnews.smtp: S: 220 mail1.seaside.ns.ca ESMTP Postfix
SmtpClient.jsm:413:17 23:19:07.963 mailnews.smtp: C: EHLO [192.168.1.144] SmtpClient.jsm:579:19 23:19:08.032 mailnews.smtp: S: 250-mail1.seaside.ns.ca
250-PIPELINING
250-SIZE 52428800
250-VRFY
250-ETRN
250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250-8BITMIME
250-DSN
250-SMTPUTF8
250 CHUNKING
SmtpClient.jsm:413:17 23:19:08.033 mailnews.smtp: Possible auth methods: PLAIN,LOGIN SmtpClient.jsm:899:17 23:19:08.033 mailnews.smtp: Maximum allowed message size: 52428800 SmtpClient.jsm:905:19 23:19:08.033 mailnews.smtp: Current auth method: PLAIN SmtpClient.jsm:617:17 23:19:08.034 mailnews.smtp: Authentication via AUTH PLAIN SmtpClient.jsm:632:21 23:19:08.034 mailnews.smtp: C: Logging suppressed (it probably contained auth information) SmtpClient.jsm:575:19 23:19:08.113 mailnews.smtp: S: 235 2.7.0 Authentication successful
SmtpClient.jsm:413:17 23:19:08.114 mailnews.smtp: Authentication successful. SmtpClient.jsm:1135:17 23:19:08.115 mailnews.smtp: C: MAIL FROM:<dimplecat@seaside.ns.ca> BODY=8BITMIME SIZE=1545 SmtpClient.jsm:579:19 23:19:08.315 mailnews.smtp: S: 250 2.1.0 Ok
SmtpClient.jsm:413:17 23:19:08.316 mailnews.smtp: MAIL FROM successful, proceeding with 1 recipients SmtpClient.jsm:1169:17 23:19:08.316 mailnews.smtp: Adding recipient... SmtpClient.jsm:1174:17 23:19:08.316 mailnews.smtp: C: RCPT TO:<beeattitude@seaside.ns.ca> SmtpClient.jsm:579:19 23:19:08.391 mailnews.smtp: S: 250 2.1.5 Ok
SmtpClient.jsm:413:17 23:19:08.392 mailnews.smtp: RCPT TO done, proceeding with payload SmtpClient.jsm:1234:19 23:19:08.392 mailnews.smtp: C: DATA SmtpClient.jsm:579:19 23:19:08.463 mailnews.smtp: S: 354 End data with <CR><LF>.<CR><LF>
SmtpClient.jsm:413:17 23:19:08.463 mailnews.smtp: Sending 1545 bytes of payload SmtpClient.jsm:549:17 23:20:51.233 mailnews.smtp: S: 421 4.4.2 mail2.seaside.ns.ca Error: timeout exceeded
SmtpClient.jsm:413:17 23:20:51.234 mailnews.smtp: Command failed: 421 mail2.seaside.ns.ca Error: timeout exceeded; currentAction=_actionStream SmtpClient.jsm:504:19 23:20:51.234 mailnews.smtp: Message sending failed. SmtpClient.jsm:1291:21 23:20:51.236 mailnews.send: Sending failed; An error occurred while sending mail. The mail server responded: mail2.seaside.ns.ca Error: timeout exceeded. Please check the message and try again., exitCode=2153066725, originalMsgURI= MessageSend.jsm:336:27 23:20:51.248 mailnews.smtp: Socket closed. SmtpClient.jsm:487:17 23:22:02.857 mailnews.smtp: Closing connection... 2 SmtpClient.jsm:153:17 23:22:02.863 mailnews.smtp: Idling while waiting for new connections... SmtpClient.jsm:1307:19 23:24:08.764 mailnews.smtp: Socket closed. SmtpClient.jsm:487:17 23:24:08.766 mailnews.smtp: S: 421 4.4.2 mail1.seaside.ns.ca Error: timeout exceeded
SmtpClient.jsm:413:17 23:24:08.767 mailnews.smtp: Command failed: 421 mail1.seaside.ns.ca Error: timeout exceeded; currentAction=_actionStream SmtpClient.jsm:504:19 23:24:08.768 mailnews.smtp: Message sending failed. SmtpClient.jsm:1291:21 23:24:08.769 mailnews.send: Sending failed; An error occurred while sending mail. The mail server responded: mail1.seaside.ns.ca Error: timeout exceeded. Please check the message and try again., exitCode=2153066725, originalMsgURI= MessageSend.jsm:336:27 23:24:13.651 mailnews.smtp: Closing connection... 2 SmtpClient.jsm:153:17 23:24:13.657 mailnews.smtp: Idling while waiting for new connections... SmtpClient.jsm:1307:19
H
Could this be a IPv4 / IPv6 issue?
Try: Menu app icon > Preferences > General scroll to bottom or use search Click on Config Editor Type: IPv Look for : network.dns.disableIPv6 Toggle value from False to true Restart Thunderbird and try to send
Hello:
Changing "network.dns.disableIPv6" to "True" resulted in the following"
13:51:43.181 window.controllers/Controllers is deprecated. Do not use it for UA detection. blank 13:53:25.777 mailnews.send: Sending failed; The message could not be sent because the connection to Outgoing server (SMTP) smtp.seaside.ns.ca timed out. Try again., exitCode=2153066800, originalMsgURI=mailbox-message://dimplecat@mail.seaside.ns.ca/Drafts#16 MessageSend.jsm:336:27
So, still no joy... I think the problem is with my ISP's server parameters as this problem is evident not only in Thunderbird, but other email clients, though I am having a hard time convincing them about this.
H