topic Re: much better in Plusnet Feedback

much better

whistler — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:43:05 GMT

After my previous thread "not the best start" I have to say I had fingers crossed re: the actual switch over to plusnet. But, credit where credit's due. My broadband switched over without a hitch on wednesday and so far (touch wood) everything is very good. Speed is currently 4 x that of my previous ISP. Just one small niggle if anyone can help. When I access my email sometimes all goes fine but sometimes it seems to time out (for mail.plus.net only - not my other domain addresses) and I get the (outlook) credentials box asking to confirm password etc. why is this?
Thanks

Re: much better

orbrey — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:41:47 GMT

Hi whistler,
Not sure what could cause this, are you getting any error messages from outlook at all (other than the username/password related one I mean)? Also do you ever have the same problem logging into the webmail server (http://webmail.plus.net - with the same username and password you use in outlook)?

Re: much better

whistler — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:16:59 GMT

Quote from: Matt
are you getting any error messages from outlook at all (other than the username/password related one I mean)?

No - I don't get any error messages. Like I say - it doesn't allways happen but more often than not.

Quote from: Matt
Also do you ever have the same problem logging into the webmail server (http://webmail.plus.net - with the same username and password you use in outlook)?

No - no problem at all.
It seems to me that when attempting to connect to your pop3 server, it times out a couple of times - things usually work on the 3rd or 4th attempt. This doesn't happen though on your smtp server - that works first time, every time.

Re: much better

birdman — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:21:18 GMT

I too have had a similar experience for the last six or so weeks, using Outlook Express. Whilst it doesn't actually time out, after clicking Send/Recv it seems to hang for several seconds as though there was a large file coming when it is actually a small simple email with no attachments. I have assumed it was Norton Internet Security 2010 doing its thing for viruses and spam, but then I have used Norton products for many years without this happening before. No big deal, but an annoying little niggle.

Re: much better

whistler — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:15:38 GMT

Quote from: Matt
Not sure what could cause this

So...... is that it? has it gone into the too difficult bucket?

Re: much better

Chris — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:22:41 GMT

Nope
Next time it times out, can you try the steps below:
Start > Run > type in 'cmd'
Type the following:
telnet mail.plus.net 110
then press return.
You should get a response along the lines of

Quote
+OK Hello there.

Type in:
user username press enter
pass password press enter
Obviously replacing the italicised words with your details.
Make sure you type carefully as if you hit any incorrect key you have to start over.
You should then have something like this:

Quote
+OK Hello there.
user myusername
+OK Password required.
pass ********
+OK logged in.

Let us know how you get on with that.

Re: much better

David_W — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:37:05 GMT

If you're using Vista/Windows 7, Telnet isn't installed by default though.
You can use Putty or in Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn On/Off Windows features > Telnet client

Re: much better

Simon_M — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:26:15 GMT

Quote from: birdman
I too have had a similar experience for the last six or so weeks, using Outlook Express. Whilst it doesn't actually time out, after clicking Send/Recv it seems to hang for several seconds as though there was a large file coming when it is actually a small simple email with no attachments.

Are you set to 'leave messages on the server'?. As the number of messages on the server builds up, it takes longer to sift through & find the new ones.

Re: much better

whistler — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:07:33 GMT

Quote from: Chris
Let us know how you get on with that.

Hi Chris
OK - first things first. Since you last posted I've synched my email maybe 30 times and it's worked first time every time - no problem. So much so I thought you guys had found and fixed something. Then at around 20:55 tonight it failed again so I did your telnet login and it worked fine. Tried email again and it failed, tried telnet - it worked - tried email and that finally worked 3rd time lucky.
At this point I'm thinking it may look to you like it's an email client thing. BUT I have several other email accounts on my web host service and at the moment also my old email (pop3 only) on my old ISP - and they all work absolutely fine. The only one out of my six pop3 accounts that does this is your mail.plus.net server.

Re: much better

orbrey — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:29:36 GMT

Would you mind deleting and then recreating the mail account just to make sure there's no corruption there that could be causing the issue? It might also be worth trying to access the account via IMAP to see if that makes any difference.

Re: much better

whistler — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:02:58 GMT

Quote from: Matt
Would you mind deleting and then recreating the mail account just to make sure there's no corruption there that could be causing the issue?

At the moment its working fine and has been all morning - next time it fails I'll do this.

Quote from: Matt
It might also be worth trying to access the account via IMAP to see if that makes any difference.

How do I do this?

Re: much better

paulby — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:17:41 GMT

Quote from: whistler

How do I do this?

You can either do it by accessing your mail via webmail or by setting up the account in your e-mail client as an IMAP account (in OE for example select IMAP instead of POP3) and then use imap.plus.net as the incoming server instead of mail.plus.net. (Don't just edit the server on the account in OE or Windows Mail - you'll need to add a new account.)

Re: much better

whistler — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:51:33 GMT

ok - thought I'd see how things behaved over a few days. Still the same. I'd say on average probably 50% of attempts succeed/fail.
Telenet allways works.
Re-created pop3 account: no difference.
IMAP works no problem - though I only tried it for a few hours.
Done a bit of research. Could it be that your pop3 server max concurrent users setting is too low OR your pop3 server isn't man enough for the number of concurrent logins you generally get?
It's not a killer - just a bit of a PITA. Ironically it was about the one thing my previous ISP got right - c'est la vie.

Re: much better

birdman — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:39:45 GMT

@Simon M

Quote
Are you set to 'leave messages on the server'?. As the number of messages on the server builds up, it takes longer to sift through & find the new ones.

Many thanks for your response and apologies for delay in replying. Yes, it is set to leave messages on server, but for only 2 days so not a huge amount of emails would build up. I have now set it up not to leave messages to see whether it makes much difference. It is a handy feature and I can always change back again.

Re: much better

bobpullen — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:50:33 GMT

Quote from: whistler
Done a bit of research. Could it be that your pop3 server max concurrent users setting is too low OR your pop3 server isn't man enough for the number of concurrent logins you generally get?

Nope, I doubt that's a factor for a number of reasons. Firstly, there would be widespread reports of problems if this was the case. Secondly, your telnet tests would fail. Thirdly, our graphing/monitoring shows no suggestion of problems (the load balancer sessions paint a similar picture).

This does seem like a local problem TBH from the evidence you've provided. I'd go with removing *all* Plusnet mail accounts from your email application and settign up the ones you need again. That reminds me, do you have just the one Plusnet account set up or are there more?
My next piece of advice would be to temporarily disable any antivirus/security software to see if the problem still occurs (I'd only do this is you're behind a router, don't try it if you use a standalone USB modem).

Re: much better

whistler — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:47:10 GMT

Quote from: Bob
My next piece of advice would be to temporarily disable any antivirus/security software to see if the problem still occurs (I'd only do this is you're behind a router, don't try it if you use a standalone USB modem).

It has been slightly better up until yesterday when it was taking 5 or more attempts to download mail. I disabled virus checking and it's made no difference. Just made 3 attempts before downloading this morning. As usual my mail from my web host mail server comes down no problem every time.
Occasionally I get an error message from outlook:

Quote
There was a problem logging into your mail server. Your user name or password was rejected.
Server response: '-ERR login failed.'. (Account ************) Pop3 server 'mail.plus.net', Error number 0x800ccc92).

A lookup of Error number 0x800ccc92 is not exactly conclusive but here's what MS say:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309216
Elsewhere I found this:

Quote
On the Exchange Server-based computer, the following information is registered in the Application log:
Event ID: 13003
Source: MSExchange Pop3
Type: Error
Category: Authentication
Description: Logon attempt from 0.0.0.0 to alias failed: HrLookupCredentials() call failed with error Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password.

Can you check your logs for this?

Re: much better

whistler — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:38:27 GMT

bump

Re: much better

bobpullen — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:20:27 GMT

Quote from: whistler
Occasionally I get an error message from outlook:
Quote
There was a problem logging into your mail server. Your user name or password was rejected.
Server response: '-ERR login failed.'. (Account ************) Pop3 server 'mail.plus.net', Error number 0x800ccc92).

A lookup of Error number 0x800ccc92 is not exactly conclusive but here's what MS say:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309216

Not relevant:
[quote author="MS Knowledgebase"]APPLIES TO
* Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Standard Edition
We do not use Microsoft Exchange and by the sounds of things neither do you.

Quote
Elsewhere I found this:
Quote
On the Exchange Server-based computer, the following information is registered in the Application log:
Event ID: 13003
Source: MSExchange Pop3
Type: Error
Category: Authentication
Description: Logon attempt from 0.0.0.0 to alias failed: HrLookupCredentials() call failed with error Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password.

Can you check your logs for this?

As above, we don't use exchange, we use Courier so I'd be very surprised to find any entry like the one above in our server logs
The error message Outlook is giving you is most common in my experience where there's another local application/process interfering with your mail collection. It's not clear whether or not you've deleted and recreated your mail account yet in Outlook?

Re: much better

whistler — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:48:22 GMT

Quote from: Bob
The error message Outlook is giving you is most common in my experience where there's another local application/process interfering with your mail collection.

I have no new applications since I switched to your pop3 server.
tiscali's pop3 worked fine.
my other three pop3 accounts still work fine.

Quote from: Bob
It's not clear whether or not you've deleted and recreated your mail account yet in Outlook?

Not sure why... given this on 22/01

Quote from: whistler
Re-created pop3 account: no difference.

Oh and BTW

Quote from: Bob
As above, we don't use exchange, we use Courier so I'd be very surprised to find any entry like the one above in our server logs

Very cute but I'd be surprised if courier doesn't maintain similar log info
EDIT: Just tried it a minute ago and it took EIGHT attempts... other three pop3 accounts instant (as usual).

Re: much better

jelv — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:03:59 GMT

Do you leave a copy of messages on the server and if so for how long? I'm wondering if it is because your mailboxes have a lot of messages and it's causing time-outs. Later attempts a lot of the data will be in the mail server memory and that's when you succeed.