Pop3 Email Will Not Work For Hours

[spalfrey]

I've been having frequent problems when I cannot connect to my POP3 email for hours, and then the problem just goes away. I get the outlook message:

Task 'me@domain.ext - Receiving' reported error (0x80042108) : 'Outlook is unable to connect to your incoming (POP3) e-mail server. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).'

I have seen other people have had similar problems, but I am still unsure what the issue is (the TCH servers seem to be up; I can connect via webmail; and I can access my website...just not my POP3 account)

 

Based on suggestion I saw on this forum, I ran tracert, and when I did, I found that one hop timed out. Does this mean this is where the problem is?

 

Any thoughts, as this seems to be a common problem?

[TCH-Thomas]

Not sure it helps but I found this through google:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;318790.

[spalfrey]

Thanks for the suggestion Thomas. Unfortunately, the causes suggested in this article dont apply to my situation. Furthermore, I get the problem on multiple computers, which are running different os/firewall/antivirus programs.

Email is working again now, after only about 1 hour down, but based on recent experience, I'll see the problem again w/in a week.

 

Any guess on where the problem lies?

[TCH-Bruce]

If you ran a trace route and you are getting time outs before reaching your mail server "yes" that is most likely the problem.

 

Copy the trace route and open a support ticket with the help desk explaining the problem. They may have some ideas.

[mbakshi]

I have a similar issue - with outgoing SMTP though. I can receive incoming emails by POP3, but outgoing doesn't work:

 

Task 'mbakshi - Sending' reported error (0x80042109) : 'Outlook is unable to connect to your outgoing (SMTP) e-mail server. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).'

[TCH-Andy]

If incoming works, but outgoing doesn't then it is nearly always your ISP blocking the outgoing port. You could try changing it from port 25 to port 26.