Suddenly I can't send email although I can still receive it.

[iamdavid]

So here's my problem. I use a mac.com email address and the Apple Mail app.

Out of the blue I can no longer send email. I get an error message that says

The sender address [email protected] was rejected by the server p24-smtp.mail.me.com.
The server response was: No AUTH command has been given.
Select a different outgoing mail server from the list below or click Try Later to leave the message in your Outbox until it can be sent.
Sending from: (null)

If I click on connection doctor it shows it all working fine for incoming and outgoing.

As iCloud settings are all automatically entered and non-alterable I don't see how I can change anything, nor, given that it all worked yesterday, why I would need to.

I have tried restarting running Disk First Aid etc...

I created another user and tried sending email and I still couldn't.

Any suggestions?

 

[gsahli]

Do these apply to you?
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201771
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204075

 

[iamdavid]

Thanks for responding. Actually neither article applies to me. One is about not being able to send OR receive email, and I can receive it just fine. The other, about icloud, and aliases etc doesn't really apply as this all worked earlier yesterday and then suddenly stopped working. My mac.com email address incidentally was created on the very first day that Steve Jobs announded the mac.com domain name... and (I believe) MobileMe.

btw the account works perfectly well in Safari, sending and receiving...

 

[pm-r]

This same problem used to happen quite frequently previously and you can chehk some of the google hits here in case there's a fix:
https://www.google.ca/search?client...&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=Oz1pWYulENHe8AfG3YuoBA

The reason you can't send is usually due to a bad authorization or type, or sometimes port number, but why anything might have changed I have no idea.

There is a remote chance that the outgoing email server happened to be off line when you tried.

Maybe check with your ISP and they may have had some outage and may also be able to help you.




- Patrick
======

 

[iamdavid]

I appreciate your efforts on my behalf. I had already done that google search and been through all those results, nothing there to help unfortunately....

Connection Doctor says the connection to the SMTP server is working and no authorization is required.

There's no problem with my ISP and this has now been like this for over 24 hours. According to the Apple Status page all is working OK.

 

[pm-r]

btw the account works perfectly well in Safari, sending and receiving...

I gather that means that you're accessing your @mac.com account through a https://www.icloud.com/#mail webpage using that method????

And when was the last time you could sen an email using your Mail.app??






- Patrick
======

 

[iamdavid]

I could send yesterday morning via the Mail.app I can still receive in the mail.app, but have to send through https://www.icloud.com/#mail

 

[pm-r]

Connection Doctor says the connection to the SMTP server is working and no authorization is required.

That to me is a bit bizarre if you can't send any email using Mail but I'm sure no expert.

Maybe try the Connection Doctor again but also click the More or Show Details button and then the Check Again button.

There may be some detail in the text indicating some problem.






- Patrick
======

 

[iamdavid]

I agree it IS bizarre. I spent most of the day yesterday trying all sorts of things and researching like mad, and You know what? My guess is that the problem will disappear at some point just like it appeared.

Thanks for trying!!

 

[Ember1205]

I appreciate your efforts on my behalf. I had already done that google search and been through all those results, nothing there to help unfortunately....

Connection Doctor says the connection to the SMTP server is working and no authorization is required.

There's no problem with my ISP and this has now been like this for over 24 hours. According to the Apple Status page all is working OK.

This doesn't look right to me. Can you check to be sure that your default SMTP server is set right for that account and that the user/pass is correct?

You have to launch Mail, go to Preferences, highlight the account, click Server Settings. In the Outgoing Mail Account section, click the drop down and choose Edit SMTP Server List.

 

[iamdavid]

When I get to Server settings all I get is this.



In the drop down menu, if I click on Edit SMTP Server List, I get this



Note that all the boxes are blank, greyed out and uneditable...

Grrr.....

 

[Ember1205]

The boxes are greyed out because there is no server configured.

Have you tried resetting your Keychain? I seem to remember that at least parts of this stuff is sync'ed automatically via Keychain among devices.

Alternatively, you might just need to add a server there.

https://www.lifewire.com/get-icloud-mail-working-on-mac-2260814
https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/email/installing-icloud-3-mail-wont-send/

 

[ferrarr]

The boxes are greyed out because there is no server configured.

Have you tried resetting your Keychain? I seem to remember that at least parts of this stuff is sync'ed automatically via Keychain among devices.

Alternatively, you might just need to add a server there.

https://www.lifewire.com/get-icloud-mail-working-on-mac-2260814
https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/email/installing-icloud-3-mail-wont-send/

I just looked at my server settings for iCloud.com, and they're blank (greyed out) also. Sending works fine here.

 

[iamdavid]

Thanks for that reassurance. If I try to set up a server, it shows in the list as offline and doesn't work anyway....

 

[Ember1205]

Thanks for that reassurance. If I try to set up a server, it shows in the list as offline and doesn't work anyway....

Did you try removing the account and re-adding it? Seeing if it will sync over via Keychain?

 

[pm-r]

Thanks for that reassurance. If I try to set up a server, it shows in the list as offline and doesn't work anyway....

Can you ping the server???

I think the System Prefs Network pane may have such a provision for doing so, but I have no idea what the proper address would be to use.

PS: What settings do you have in your Mail.app preferences > Advanced???

Maybe post a window selection screenshot for some gurus here.


EDIT:
If it helps, here's mine that I seldom use, but everything works. This is with Mavericks if it makes any difference.







- Patrick
======

 

[ferrarr]

Can you ping the server???

I think the System Prefs Network pane may have such a provision for doing so, but I have no idea what the proper address would be to use.

PS: What settings do you have in your Mail.app preferences > Advanced???

Maybe post a window selection screenshot for some gurus here.


EDIT:
If it helps, here's mine that I seldom use, but everything works. This is with Mavericks if it makes any difference.

View attachment 26760





- Patrick
======

Patrick, what version of Mail is that? I'm using Mail 10.3 on Sierra, and it doesn't look like yours,

edit: Oops, sorry Patrick missed that you're on mavericks.

 

[pm-r]

@ferrarr

It should be about the same settings Bob, as Apple shows, but stupidly they *** out the appropriate port number to use:

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204208

That alone can make a huge difference as far as proper connections go AFAIK.

But maybe this helps:
Mail server settings for iCloud email clients
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT202304







- Patrick
======

 

[iamdavid]

UPDATE
=====

I thought I would post this update to let you all know what has happened. Thanks for all your help and suggestions.

I went on vacation so the machine was shut down for to weeks, maybe that had something to do with it, maybe not.

On restarting I could, as before, receive email but not send it through Apple Mail.

This time when I went to System Preferences>iCloud and clicked on Account Details I did NOT get an error as I did before. This was new, so I signed out, went to Internet Accounts and deleted the iCloud account, checked in Mail that it was gone, and restarted the machine.

Once I was back up and running, I re-set-up the iCloud account, and all worked properly. This was most odd as I had been through all this before and it hadn't worked at all. Anyway the only thing that was wrong with this solution was that one of my email aliases had disappeared from the Sent By options in Mail. On checking, this was still set up in iCloud on the web and for some reason was unchecked there..... (see Syncopator's reply at https://discussions.apple.com/message/23674129#23674129 )

So all is fine and dandy and I'm grateful to those who helped.

 

[Ember1205]

You must have used the appropriate black magic at some point to get it to work. That's what matters.

Glad you're back in the swing of things with it.