How to troubleshoot error messages that you receive when try to send and receive e-mail in Outlook and in Outlook Express (813514)

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods, depending on your situation.

Method 1: Confirm that your e-mail server settings are correct

For information about the correct settings for your e-mail server, contact your Internet service provider (ISP) or system administrator.

Note Some ISPs do not permit message routing through another SMTP server while you are connected to their network. To resolve this problem, replace the SMTP server for the other ISP or the other e-mail account by using the SMTP server that is associated with the ISP that you use to connect to the Internet.

If you notice that your account settings have been changed to "Localhost" in the Post Office Protocol (POP) server settings and "account name/pop server name" in the Account Name box on the Server tab and you are using Trend Micro PC-cillin antivirus software, disable the POP3 Scan feature (Pop3trap.exe) of the Trend PC-cillin software.

Method 2: Examine the configuration of your firewall software

Warning This workaround may make your computer or your network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. We do not recommend this workaround but are providing this information so that you can implement this workaround at your own discretion. Use this workaround at your own risk.
Important These steps may increase your security risk. These steps may also make your computer or your network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. We recommend the process that this article describes to enable programs to operate as they are designed to, or to implement specific program capabilities. Before you make these changes, we recommend that you evaluate the risks that are associated with implementing this process in your particular environment. If you choose to implement this process, take any appropriate additional steps to help protect your system. We recommend that you use this process only if you really require this process.Configure your firewall software to grant access to the Internet for the following files:

• For Outlook Express: Msimn.exe
• For Outlook: Outlook.exe

By default, most e-mail clients have to have outgoing access on port 25 and incoming access on port 110. For more information about the ports that communicate with your e-mail server, contact your ISP or system administrator.

Firewall software that has been known to cause this problem includes products by the following vendors:

• McAfee
• Symantec
• ZoneLabs
• Cisco
• Sygate
• Sonicwall
• Freedom Security Zero Knowledge

McAfee Personal Firewall

Check your configuration settings in the McAfee Personal Firewall program and make sure that Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Outlook Express has full access.

For more information about how to configure McAfee Personal Firewall, visit the following McAfee Web site: Alternatively, you can remove and reinstall the McAfee Personal Firewall program. The reinstallation process recreates the program signature file that is used by the firewall. Additionally, this process makes sure that both Outlook and Outlook Express are included in the list of programs where Internet access is permitted.

Norton Personal Firewall (Symantec)

If you are running Norton Personal Firewall 2002, Norton Internet Security, or Norton SystemWorks software by Symantec, contact Symantec product support for upgrade or reconfiguration instruction to resolve your problem.

For more information about how to contact Symantec, view the Symantec contact information described later in this article.

Method 3: Check your antivirus vendor's Web site for additional suggestions

If your antivirus solution includes an e-mail scanning feature, you may have to do additional configuration to use Outlook or Outlook Express with the antivirus e-mail scanning feature.

Antivirus software that has been known to cause this problem includes products by the following vendors:

• Symantec (Norton)
• McAfee
• Trend Micro (PC-cillin)
• Panda

For more information, visit the following Web sites:

Symantec: McAfee: Trend Micro: Panda: Note An antivirus program is designed to help protect your computer from viruses. You must not download or open files from sources that you do not trust, visit Web sites that you do not trust, or open e-mail attachments when your antivirus program is disabled.

For more information about computer viruses, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.
The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

Method 4: Determine whether your modem is functioning correctly

Contact the vendor of your modem to determine whether there are any known issues or updates for the type of modem you are using.

TimeWarner RoadRunner cable service has confirmed that there is a known problem with the older Toshiba models of their cable modems.

Method 5: Verify the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size that is set on your router

The MTU size set on your router may not let packets larger than a certain size to pass through. These types of errors generally occur if you are connecting to the Internet through a Linksys BEFSR41 router, a Linksys BEFSR81 router, or a Linksys BEFW11S4 router. These routers have Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) problems that may cause timeout errors when you send e-mail messages.

To resolve this problem, change the MTU setting for your router. For information about how to do this, view the documentation that is included with your router, or visit the following Linksys Web site: Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

Note This problem may also occur if there is a misconfigured router or device between the user and their mail provider. These types of devices are known as 'black hole' routers.


For more information about troubleshooting "black hole" router issues, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Method 6: Remove and then reinstall Outlook Express

If Outlook Express has been removed from your computer or the installation of Outlook Express is damaged, Outlook will not function correctly and may generate one of the error messages that are mentioned in the "Symptoms" section. To resolve this problem, reinstall Outlook Express.

For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information explaining why Outlook Express is required to use Outlook, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Method 7: Create a new e-mail profile

You may be able to resolve these problems by creating a new e-mail profile.

For more information about how to create profiles in Outlook, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Method 8: Delete suspicious messages from your mailbox

If there is a damaged message in your mailbox, you can resolve this by doing one of the following:

• Contact your ISP and ask them to delete any suspicious e-mail.
• Delete any suspicious e-mail by accessing your mailbox by using your ISP's Web-based e-mail program.

Method 9: Verify that all SMTP e-mail addresses in a distribution list are valid

If one SMTP address in a distribution list is corrupted or incorrectly formed, error 0x8004210b can occur. Examine all addresses in the distribution list to verify that they look correct. Additionally, you can send individual test messages to each distribution list member to determine the bad address.