[Trystane]

So currently my company contracts out its e-mail needs and what not (at the time it was the best fit solution, don't laugh) and for the past few months we've been getting this error only between two users "failed four attempts to connect to recipients mail server" - wtf? They're both on the same frakking server! FYI - The mail server is SmarterMail by some company named SmarterTools Inc. I've never heard of them.

Now granted I'm not an e-mail admin (not yet anyway) and I don't fully grasp how authentication would work and what not, but I imagine it's not all that more different from your basic network understanding, yes? Long story short after months of hounding this dude to fix his server I finally get this message back.

"Hi Justin,

I just ran a couple of tests on the web-based e-mail. I logged in is Raymond Snapp and as MLHarper, and sent e-mail messages back and forth. They went through right away. Those two folks will receive them when they download their messages – the ones I sent were labeled test message #1. That tells me they can send and receive e-mail from each other using the web based e-mail. Try it yourself – the pw for both accounts is peak.

So…. The problem is probably local. I would check their spam blacklists and virus protection settings and see if there is something there that would block each other. You can also take a look at their settings on the network and see if they have each other blocked for some reason."

Does it say stupid on my forehead somewhere? Did he even look at the message log I gave him? Any half-baked twit would surely read the line "Microsoft Outlook Express" as the mailer in the log. OE doesn't have a blacklist, it has a block senders list but even then it's client side and just moves the e-mail into the deleted box. I can't speak for the virus protection sense we only have SAV 10.0 and we didn't get the spam filter add-on for it, but I would imagine it would be much the same.

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

Oh and to top that off... a quick search of the google on the intratubes found this gem - http://forums.smartertools.com/forums/thread/30298.aspx apparently it's a somewhat common problem with this mail server.