Need Help! Please.

[baldtyres]

Hi all,
Just wondering if any of you lads with a bit of computer knowledge out there might be able to help.
Since last Thursday I have not been able to send or recieve e-mails. I use Microsoft Outlook and everything seems alright but there has been absolutely no movement. I have a hotmail address (this is ok) also and have been sending mails to and from this but the Outlook is definately not working.
Internet is OK
I know this is a very vague description but if anybody can suggest what might have gone wrong. My usual IT guy is away on holidays until the end of the week and I cannot figure out what is wrong. Could I have accidentally switched something off in Outlook??????
Anybody??????

[gabico]

So are you using your hotmail account with outlook or a different mail account?
Is it a paid or a free hotmail account? I don't think they support pop3 or smtp with free accounts.
Do you get any errors when you press send/receive?
There could be a problem with the mail server you are using(if it's not hotmail).
You should consider switching to Thunderbird anyway..

[pergau]

I think we need more info BT

What version of Windows
What version of Outlook
Is is a POP3 account
Why Windows
Why Hotmail
I presume that they rest of your computer / internet link is ok
Is windows patched and up to date
Have you a firewall
have you installed anything about the same time that mail stopped working
Why Windows
Why Hotmail
Have you thought about Gmail

[baldtyres]

So are you using your hotmail account with outlook or a different mail account?
Is it a paid or a free hotmail account? I don't think they support pop3 or smtp with free accounts.
Do you get any errors when you press send/receive?
There could be a problem with the mail server you are using(if it's not hotmail).
You should consider switching to Thunderbird anyway..

I'm using the hotmail (FREE) through their own website but my main .com address through Hotmail.
Thats the thing that puzzles me.....I'm not getting any errors when I hit send/receive. So that would lead me to think everything is OK but no mails for 4 days....not even a bit of Viagra Spam.
I have to look into switching to something better if this is going to start happening.
Incidentally it's the second time it's happened but it corrected itself the last time after a couple of days.

[baldtyres]

I think we need more info BT

What version of Windows
What version of Outlook
Is is a POP3 account
Why Windows
Why Hotmail
I presume that they rest of your computer / internet link is ok
Is windows patched and up to date
Have you a firewall
have you installed anything about the same time that mail stopped working
Why Windows
Why Hotmail
Have you thought about Gmail

It's Windows XP
Outlook 2000 (9.0.0.2711)???
It is a POP3 account
Computer / internet link is OK
The Hotmail address is just a rarely used back up just for this kind of eventuality if I need to send something urgently.
Windows patched (what does patched mean ). If you mean is it connected and up to date ....Yep!
I use a firewall through Bullguard.
I dont think I installed anything since it stopped......I've been wracking my brain trying to remember did I upgrade anything.
I did a virus scan but it caught nothing.

I don't use g-mail as the .com address goes with my business name & website address.
I'm puzzled but it had to happen as my IT guy is abroad on a holiday/business trip.
I thing he'll be getting a phonecall today regardless.

[gabico]

So your .com address is used with Outlook. Just to make sure you're not receiving the emails try sending a test mail from your hotmail account. Also make sure you don't have any spam filters locally installed(in outlook) which can capture all your emails and throw them in trash.
Maybe you also have a webmail installed on your servers. Try typing mail.*.com (*= your domain). If its working from there than its your outlook client at fault. You can try to install and configure thunderbird and see if its working.
I believe that the mail server is not working properly and Outlook doesn't catch the error.

[JD]

This happens me the odd time (actually happened about an hour ago - internet Ok but no mail) but a simple re-boot of my Router fixes it. Any chance it's as simple as that?

This all sarted fo rme when I got IoLo Antivirus and Firewall. They also told me to change the settings under Tools/Options/Mail Services/Reconfigure Mail Support/ to 'Corporate or Workgroup', and this definitely helped - it only happens about once a month now.

Worth a try if nothing else works.

JD

[baldtyres]

So your .com address is used with Outlook. Just to make sure you're not receiving the emails try sending a test mail from your hotmail account. Also make sure you don't have any spam filters locally installed(in outlook) which can capture all your emails and throw them in trash.
Maybe you also have a webmail installed on your servers. Try typing mail.*.com (*= your domain). If its working from there than its your outlook client at fault. You can try to install and configure thunderbird and see if its working.
I believe that the mail server is not working properly and Outlook doesn't catch the error.

Yep, it seems that the web server is not working. I called someone who called someone who called etc.......
A bit of relief that it's not a result of a virus or similar.

Thanks all, I really appreciate all your efforts to sort it out.
Cheers