Outbound Relay Problem Domain not in list of rcpthosts

[random621]

I have run into what seems to be a common outbound email routing problem, but the standard "fix" doesn't work.

When sending emails, any email I sent outside of my domain comes back with the following error:

553 sorry, that domain isn't in my list of allowed rcpthosts (#5.7.1)

I use Outlook 2002 and Outlook Express. Both get the same error. The common fix to this problem is to make sure you are authenticating to your outgoing server by logging onto your incoming mail server before sending mail. I tried this and it does not help.

Our network has about 30 other email users (same email domain, using the same outbound mail server) and no one else is having a problem. They don't even have to authenticate for their messages to be sent.

The "problem" pc is a Windows XP Pro machine running Outlook 2002 with ALL the latest critical service patches running. I just rebuilt this PC earlier this week and applied every critical patch available from Microsoft.

Also I had initially activated the Microsoft Internet Connection Firewall service, but turned it off thinking it was the source of my problem, turning it off didn't help.

Any ideas out their would be greatly appreciated?

I have thought about just using a freeware SMTP server program on this PC, but most programs like this won't mail to hotmail and the users has a lot of customers with hotmail addresses.

Thanks in advance!

 

[jpm121]

Your mention of "the common fix" refers to "POP before SMTP", a common method of authenticating access to an SMTP server. Your problem sounds more in-depth.

The first thing I'd check is the obvious -- in your e-mail account settings, did you make sure there's no typos in the "your e-mail address" field? Even an extra period or a space can mess things up sometimes.

Also, click Tools -> Accounts then click the Change button, and click More Settings. Click on the Outgoing server, and see if SMTP-Auth is active. Compare this to another machine on your network that can send mail. If the SMTP server is requiring a separate login, this could cause your problem.

Finally, try telneting to port 25 of your e-mail server, and going through the steps to "manually" send an e-mail (if you don't know yell and we'll provide details). If this works then it's definately an Outlook problem; if it doesn't work then the server doesn't like ya.

 

[random621]

Thanks for the response.

Our email server is hosted by a third party, what specifically should I ask them to test?

Also I compared the problem computer to another computer where the email works side by side and don't see any problems.

 

[jpm121]

random, you can test it yourself (in fact, you should do so!)

Look for the address of the SMTP server under Account Settings (where you were before).

Then, type Start -> Run, and type in

telnet mail.domain.com 25

(with your SMTP server instead, of course)

You should see some form of greeting. Type

EHLO

YOu should see more friendly greeting. Type

MAIL FROM:<your valid e-mail account on that domain>

You should see Ok. Type

RCPT TO:<some testing e-mail account>

You should see Ok. Type

DATA

You should see Type Now. Type

blah blah blah blah <whatever you want>

Finish with a . on a blank line by itself.

Type QUIT

------------------

That's basically the steps that Outlook or any other program goes through to send e-mail to an SMTP server -- it's just automatic and behind the scenes normally. After you type QUIT the server will try to send along the e-mail.

If you get errors along the way, post what they are and which step caused them.

 

[SpotLizard]

If I remember correctly, the rcpthosts file is used to control SMTP relaying. It prevents the mail host being used as an open relay (for Spam) by specifying which domains, or ranges of IP addresses, are allowed to relay SMTP mail.

Check the network config of the XP machine to make sure that all Domain information is correct, then check Outlook's configuration to verify username and password (especially password cASe).

Hope this helps,

SL

 

[moleproductions]

Hi guys,

I know this post is very old - but I'm having exactly the same problem with someone on a Mac. I've tried everything except I don't know how to get them to ping from a mac so presumably telnet-ing would also be difficult.

They can email everyone else with the same domain name (or on the same server) but not outside that server.

The error message is identical to that described above.

Any ideas?
Tim