Suddenly I can't send email from Thunderbird mail accounts...help?

[catchnrelease]

I tried to search for this problem here, and if there is a discussion on it could someone point me to it? My apologies if it's already been done. If not....I hope I can explain the problem well enough to see if there is a solution.

We (husband and I) have Verizon as our provider, and Firefox as the browser. Thunderbird for getting email. In the Verizon webmail we have accounts under 3 different usernames. In the Thunderbird mail there are 5 accounts that we use for different purposes. 4 of the accounts in Thunderbird are same usename/passwords as in the Verizon webmail. This has been the set up for at least 2 years with no problems.

As of about 2 weeks ago, one by one the Thunderbird accounts have stopped sending/forwarding any mail. I get the following message:

An error occurred while sending mail. The mail server responded: 5.7.1 Authentication is required to send mail as <[e-mail]>. Please verify that your email address is correct in your Mail preferences and try again.

Where the xxx's are in that message is a jumble of numbers/letters. None of our actual email addresses. I have gone into the account settings repeatedly and checked that the information is correct. I did a search for '5.7.1 authentication error' online and some of the comments I found mentioned going to the settings and doing an edit, but the settings box that comes up for me has no option to edit. So I'm stumped, and don't know what to do. Am pretty computer illiterate so any advice has to be basic.

I can still send out mail via the Verizon webmail, but as of today none of the Thunderbird accounts will send out. I assume that this means the problem is with Thunderbird and not Verizon? Or could it be a problem between the two?

Rereading this, it sounds pretty confusing so I hope it makes sense to someone that might be able to help. Thank you in advance!

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. Right click one of the email accounts in the account list.

click settings
scroll to the bottom of the list and click smtp settings.

If there is more than one smtp server available to you, try another.

If not, create a new smtp server account and verify that the settings are as you wish them to be. Make sure you've assigned that new smtp server to the account in question.

[catchnrelease]

2. Ok

The only smtp servers available presently say smtp.verizon.net and there are 5 or 6 like that in the drop down list, one says default. Even tho' they all say the same I've tried clicking on several with same results.

How do I create a new smtp server acct? Do you mean set up a whole new email address/account? (The 5th address/account mentioned above is only a few weeks old and it no longer works either, but it does have the same smtp address as the others.)

And when you say verify the settings are as I wish them to be, what am I looking for there? Don't they have to be the verizon.net address to get the info from the server? Sorry to be dense, as I said this is like Greek to me.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. try this

http://www.verizon.com/Support/Residential/Internet/fiosinternet/Email/Setup+And+Use/QuestionsOne/124289.htm?CMP=DMC-CVZ_ZZ_ZZ_Z_ZZ_N_X322

[catchnrelease]

4. Thanks

I'll give that a try............

[catchnrelease]

5. Making some progress!

I was able to get a couple of the accounts to work last night. It did have something to do with those smtp settings. I followed the link you sent below and then bounced around between what I found there and some info on Mozilla's help site.

While it looked like all of the smtp addresses were the same, I found the 'edit' prompt and when I clicked that, a box opened that gave me more info on each of them. So, I got two assigned to the correct accounts as you suggested. Two other accounts still wouldn't work last night, but at least I know what to work on now. I suspect the problem now might be with an incorrect password on those two, so I will work on that today.

Thanks so much for your help, besides getting the problem solved, it's a good feeling to know more about how to use the system, even if it's just in a small way.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. I like thunderbird a lot.

and a significant part of the learning curve is to find where to change settings.

One thing I like about it is that you can mix and match your incoming email servers with different outgoing (smtp) servers.

My domain host has a poor reputation so I avoid using their smtp server and use my ISP's smtp server instead.

I think the poster below is on to something. I think that thunderbird uses the most recent smtp server set up as the default. You mentioned that you have a list of verizon smtp servers using a variety of settings and credentials in your list. I would find one that works, set it as default and delete the rest.

[catchnrelease]

9. I've been happy with Thunderbird and Firefox

I would like to just have the one smtp server, but it sounds a bit scary to delete all but one. I'll see if I can get one to work for all of the accounts and then decide if I'm brave enough to delete the rest, lol.

[gvstn]

6. I'm terrible at setting up email.

I did notice that you said the problem started two weeks ago and you added a new email account a few weeks ago maybe it is related.
Try setting the very first email account created as the default for outgoing (I think Verizon works like the very first email account is the "master" account so it would be the one you would use on Verizon's webmail page to change the password of the "lesser" accounts).

Also, make sure you have smtp spelled correctly I always transpose those letters for some reason.

Like I said, I'm not good at setting up email but these are a couple things I would try.

[catchnrelease]

7. I also suspect the new account and the problem are related

The original account is set as the default. I'll check on the Verizon webmail page to see about the passwords there. I think when I created the new acct I got the 'sub' smtp settings mixed up, but couldn't see that until I got to the box for editing, which showed which accounts they were tied to.

Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it!

[catchnrelease]

10. Success!

Well, will see if it's permanent, but it looks like I got the issue corrected.

I did try to use one default smtp server for the 4 accounts I had the problem with, and it didn't work. One of the accounts that I had fixed yesterday would not work with the default so I didn't go any further. I got the 4 differing servers paired up with the appropriate accounts, had to correct one password and I was able to send out mail from all 4 accounts with no problems. What a relief!

My guess is that when I set up the newest account I messed around and got the smtps/accounts mismatched, and had left off part of one password-duh!

Thanks again to lumberjack_jeff and gvstn for your advice, it's much appreciated.