SMTP works, but POP3 fails
I've been a Thunderbird user for around 8-10 years now, and I use it with multiple email accounts. I've run into a configuration issue I've never seen before, and I cannot find a solution (so far).
I changed my broadband ISP from Comcast to Frontier. With Frontier, of course, I get an email account. I can access and use the account just fine via webmail. However, when I manually configure in Thunderbird (autoconfigure produces the wrong settings), password authentication fails,
When I try Advanced Configuration, SMTP works, but POP3 fails.
I contacted Frontier support to verify the correct settings. They are as follow:
POP3: pop3.frontier.com, SSL/TLS, Port 995 SMTP: smtp.frontier.com, SSL/TLS, Port 465
I'm using full email address for the user name. He double-checked the password on the POP3 server, and it's correct. I also disabled my firewall, but it didn't help.
I'm perplexed as to why SMTP should work but not POP3.
They do not support IMAP.
Any ideas, anyone?
Chosen solution
Your idea about trying the iPhone was a good one. It also generated the same error, suggesting that this wasn't a Thunderbird issue after all.
I ended up calling Frontier again, and the tech and I ran through everything once more. Every combination that we tried failed.
Then, on a whim, I suggested we try setting a different, shorter password.
The one I had originally set was complex with special characters and about 15-20 characters long.
We changed it to a one about 8-10 characters long, again with special characters.
It worked.
Unbelievable.
Thanks for your help with this one, Toad-Hall.
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (12)
SMTP works but pop fails: so you can send but not receive?
Please provide info: Help > Troubleshooting Information click on 'Copy text to clipboard' paste info into this forum question you can edit/remove all info on fonts and printers but nothing else.
When you try to Get Messages, do you get an error message? If yes, what does it say...word for word?
Toad-Hall said
SMTP works but pop fails: so you can send but not receive? Please provide info: Help > Troubleshooting Information click on 'Copy text to clipboard' paste info into this forum question you can edit/remove all info on fonts and printers but nothing else. When you try to Get Messages, do you get an error message? If yes, what does it say...word for word?
Yes, I can send, but not receive. I've used asterisks in place of my real email address name below.
Upon opening Thunderbird, I get, "Error with account: *************@frontier.com. Sending of password for user *************@frontier.com did not succeed. Mail server pop3.frontier.com responded: [AUTH] (#MBR1212) Incorrect username or password."
When I click OK, I get, "Login to server pop3.frontier.com failed."
When I try "Get Messages", I again get the first error: "Error with account: *************@frontier.com. Sending of password for user *************@frontier.com did not succeed. Mail server pop3.frontier.com responded: [AUTH] (#MBR1212) Incorrect username or password."
Once again, when I click OK, I get, "Login to server pop3.frontier.com failed."
Modified by vahost
I just had a look at fronteirs settings for outlook, they do not mention setting SSL and outlook does not default to it, I would try account settings with No SSL.
I would also suggest you try with anti virus email scanning turned off. Some A/V just choke and die on SSL, other simply make a mess of everything and some sort of work. Nortons used to make it easy by not even trying on SSL secured mail.
Matt said
I just had a look at fronteirs settings for outlook, they do not mention setting SSL and outlook does not default to it, I would try account settings with No SSL. I would also suggest you try with anti virus email scanning turned off. Some A/V just choke and die on SSL, other simply make a mess of everything and some sort of work. Nortons used to make it easy by not even trying on SSL secured mail.
Ummm ... this is a Thunderbird support forum, not an Outlook support forum ... right?
I did set Thunderbird to SSL/TLS for both POP3 and SMTP, as mentioned in my original post.
I tried disabling both Norton Firewall and Norton Anti-Virus Auto-Protect, but the POP3 still fails.
I'm still looking for a solution to this problem. Any help would be appreciated.
Please provide info: Help > Troubleshooting Information click on 'Copy text to clipboard' paste info into this forum question you can edit/remove all info on fonts and printers but nothing else.
This will tell us exactly what Thunderbird has got stored.
Application Basics
Name: Thunderbird Version: 31.4.0 User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.4.0 Profile Folder: Show Folder
(Local drive) Application Build ID: 20150109111741 Enabled Plugins: about:plugins Build Configuration: about:buildconfig Memory Use: about:memory
Mail and News Accounts
account1:
INCOMING: account1, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext
account3:
INCOMING: account3, , (pop3) mail.nolanchart.com:110, plain, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: nolanchart.com:587, plain, passwordCleartext, true
account4:
INCOMING: account4, , (pop3) mail.libertariantv.com:110, plain, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: mail.libertariantv.com:587, plain, passwordCleartext, true
account5:
INCOMING: account5, , (pop3) mail.themoneysuckers.com:110, plain, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: mail.themoneysuckers.com:587, plain, passwordCleartext, true
account9:
INCOMING: account9, , (pop3) mail.dirtcheapadvertising.com:110, plain, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: smtp.dirtcheapadvertising.com:587, plain, passwordCleartext, true
account16:
INCOMING: account16, , (pop3) mail.jcmcom.com:110, plain, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: smtp.jcmcom.com:587, alwaysSTARTTLS, passwordEncrypted, true
account17:
INCOMING: account17, , (pop3) mail.connweb.com:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: mail.connweb.com:587, plain, passwordCleartext, true
account25:
INCOMING: account25, , (imap) nolanchart.com:143, alwaysSTARTTLS, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: nolanchart.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
account37:
INCOMING: account37, , (imap) mail.dld2000.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: nolanchart.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
account38:
INCOMING: account38, , (imap) nolanchart.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: nolanchart.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
account40:
INCOMING: account40, , (imap) imap.comcast.net:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: smtp.comcast.net:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
account44:
INCOMING: account44, , (pop3) pop3.frontier.com:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: smtp.frontier.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
Crash Reports
Extensions Mail Merge, 3.9.1, true, mailmerge@example.net Send Later, 4.4, true, sendlater3@kamens.us
Important Modified Preferences
Name: Value
accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0
browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400
browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false
extensions.lastAppVersion: 31.4.0
gfx.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx: 0
mail.openMessageBehavior.version: 1
mail.winsearch.firstRunDone: true
mailnews.database.global.datastore.id: f28c67d1-5291-465f-b0b3-b02f057ac34
network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
places.database.lastMaintenance: 1423494875
places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 104858
places.history.expiration.transient_optimal_database_size: 164919868
plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf
plugin.importedState: true
Graphics
Adapter Description: AMD Radeon HD 8400
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x9830
Adapter RAM: 512
Adapter Drivers: aticfx64 aticfx64 aticfx64 aticfx32 aticfx32 aticfx32 atiumd64 atidxx64 atidxx64 atiumdag atidxx32 atidxx32 atiumdva atiumd6a atitmm64
Driver Version: 13.251.9001.1001
Driver Date: 7-4-2014
Direct2D Enabled: true
DirectWrite Enabled: true (6.3.9600.17111)
ClearType Parameters: ClearType parameters not found
WebGL Renderer: false
GPU Accelerated Windows: 2/2 Direct3D 10
AzureCanvasBackend: direct2d
AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0
AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo
AzureContentBackend: direct2d
JavaScript
Incremental GC: 1
Accessibility
Activated: 0 Prevent Accessibility: 0
Library Versions
Expected minimum version
Version in use
NSPR
4.10.6
4.10.6
NSS
3.16.2.3 Basic ECC
3.16.2.3 Basic ECC
NSS Util
3.16.2.3
3.16.2.3
NSS SSL
3.16.2.3 Basic ECC
3.16.2.3 Basic ECC
NSS S/MIME
3.16.2.3 Basic ECC
3.16.2.3 Basic ECC
vahost said
Matt saidI just had a look at frontiers settings for outlook, they do not mention setting SSL and outlook does not default to it, I would try account settings with No SSL. I would also suggest you try with anti virus email scanning turned off. Some A/V just choke and die on SSL, other simply make a mess of everything and some sort of work. Nortons used to make it easy by not even trying on SSL secured mail.Ummm ... this is a Thunderbird support forum, not an Outlook support forum ... right?
What does the settings being published for Outlook have to do with their validity? This is a serious question being asked in response to your comments.
Matt said
What does the settings being published for Outlook have to do with their validity? This is a serious question being asked in response to your comments.
Well, to the best of my knowledge, Thunderbird and Outlook are two different pieces of software written and published by two different companies. Just because something is true of one of them doesn't mean that it's true of the other as well.
Besides, I answered your questions.
vahost said
Well, to the best of my knowledge, Thunderbird and Outlook are two different pieces of software written and published by two different companies. Just because something is true of one of them doesn't mean that it's true of the other as well.
And that is where you are wrong. Server name, port, the use of SSL, authentication methods etc are settings defined by the server operator, all mail clients use the same settings as defined by the server operator to connect to their server. Both a Ford and a Toyota connect to the same gas pump.
This is particularly relevant in the case of Thunderbird because it's wizard will select the most secure settings it can find and think it can make work and the published connection settings be damned. When there is an issue, shedding security is the first place to start.
Until recent versions, most anti virus programs simply did not even try and scan mail in SSL secured connections. That is because the data stream is encrypted between the server and the application the data is coming to. In recent versions they now scan encrypted connections. How? Well they hack your secure data connection using a man in the middle techniques or set themselves as a proxy like malware. Just another reason to drop SSL and try without it.
Perhaps now you will try without SSL.
The settins in Norton should be: Settings > Network > Smart Firewall > Program Rules Scroll to locate : Thunderbird C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe or if computer running 64bit: Thunderbird C:\Program Files(x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe Set to 'Allow'
On one occassion, after an update, I checked those settings and it was set to Allow, but for some reason Norton thought it should be allowing the previous version. So I set to block, closed Thunderbird. Reset Norton to Allow and restarted Thunderbird and all was OK.
There seems to be much conflicting advise, even from the Frontier website. The link below says : http://www.frontierhelp.com/usertools.cfm?qstid=554 Pop settings for incoming are: pop3.frontier.com Port : 110 Connection Security: None Authentication: Normal Password.
Do you use a phone to access the frontier email?
Do you access frontier webmail via yahoo frontier?
Chosen Solution
Your idea about trying the iPhone was a good one. It also generated the same error, suggesting that this wasn't a Thunderbird issue after all.
I ended up calling Frontier again, and the tech and I ran through everything once more. Every combination that we tried failed.
Then, on a whim, I suggested we try setting a different, shorter password.
The one I had originally set was complex with special characters and about 15-20 characters long.
We changed it to a one about 8-10 characters long, again with special characters.
It worked.
Unbelievable.
Thanks for your help with this one, Toad-Hall.