Forum Discussion

Geoffers008's avatar
Geoffers008
Tuning in
29 days ago
Solved

Access to Thunderbird suddenly fails

My access to Thunderbird email suddenly failed last night for both my Virgin email addresses (enter new password) and is still down this afternoon.

It's fine for other email accounts such as gmail, and although I have changed my Virgin email password, it's still nothing doing.

It doesn't appear to be a Thunderbird problem, but I wondered if anybody else is having the same problem.

  • coenoby's avatar
    coenoby
    29 days ago
    Geoffers008 wrote:

    My access to Thunderbird email suddenly failed last night for both my Virgin email addresses (enter new password) and is still down this afternoon.

    You can get an idea of why the VM SMTP server is not authenticating correctly by running a Curl command.

    To do that:

    1) Copy the following line of command text and then paste it into a MS Word document (or which ever text editor you prefer)  so that you can edit it.

    curl -v smtps://smtp.virginmedia.com -u username:password

    2) Once you have pasted it into Word, replace"username" with your full Virgin Media address,  and   "password" with your latest VM mail app password.  So that part should now say something like     "youremail@virginmedia.com:word-word-word-word"      It is important to keep the colon  :  and the spaces  exactly as per the original line of text in step 1).

    3) Type cmd into the Windows 10 or 11 search bar, press Enter and then open the Command Prompt app.

    4) Copy the full line of text that you just amended in step 2) from the Word document and paste it where the cursor is blinking in the Command Prompt. Then press Enter.

    That will generate several lines of output but all you need to look for towards the end of the output is either:

    235 2.7.0 SMTP350 Authentication successful            - which means that your laptop can successfully access and authenticate with the VM server even if Thunderbird  cannot.

    Or an error message such

    535 5.7.8 Authentication Credentials Invalid (VM300) 

    Post back here to say either that authentication was successful or, if not, just post the error message line as per the example above. Don't post the full output from the Curl command. It is the VM3NN code that is the key information.

    Coenoby

  • Graham_A's avatar
    Graham_A
    Very Insightful Person
    29 days ago
    Geoffers008 wrote:

    My access to Thunderbird email suddenly failed last night for both my Virgin email addresses (enter new password) and is still down this afternoon.

    It's fine for other email accounts such as gmail, and although I have changed my Virgin email password, it's still nothing doing.

    It doesn't appear to be a Thunderbird problem, but I wondered if anybody else is having the same problem.

    Geoffers008 You mention that you have changed your virgin email password.  Is this the one you use to sign into your My Virgin Media account and webmail for the email account concerned?  Is so then you will not be able to use the new password with Thunderbird or any other email client.  For this you will need to generate an app password via the account settings page of the My Virgin Media account.

    VM have recently changed the log in requirements for accessing VM Mail via third party apps.
    Email client access now requires an app specific password which can be generated in the MyVM > Account Settings > My Virgin Media Account details > Manage your Virgin Media Mail app password

  • Geoffers008's avatar
    Geoffers008
    Tuning in
    29 days ago

    Thanks, Graham, the new password was indeed a generated one. I only changed it because I thought it might solve the problem, but it didn't.  I can still access webmail, but all my archive stuff is on Thunderbird so it's not ideal!

  • coenoby's avatar
    coenoby
    Very Insightful Person
    29 days ago
    Geoffers008 wrote:

    My access to Thunderbird email suddenly failed last night for both my Virgin email addresses (enter new password) and is still down this afternoon.

    You can get an idea of why the VM SMTP server is not authenticating correctly by running a Curl command.

    To do that:

    1) Copy the following line of command text and then paste it into a MS Word document (or which ever text editor you prefer)  so that you can edit it.

    curl -v smtps://smtp.virginmedia.com -u username:password

    2) Once you have pasted it into Word, replace"username" with your full Virgin Media address,  and   "password" with your latest VM mail app password.  So that part should now say something like     "youremail@virginmedia.com:word-word-word-word"      It is important to keep the colon  :  and the spaces  exactly as per the original line of text in step 1).

    3) Type cmd into the Windows 10 or 11 search bar, press Enter and then open the Command Prompt app.

    4) Copy the full line of text that you just amended in step 2) from the Word document and paste it where the cursor is blinking in the Command Prompt. Then press Enter.

    That will generate several lines of output but all you need to look for towards the end of the output is either:

    235 2.7.0 SMTP350 Authentication successful            - which means that your laptop can successfully access and authenticate with the VM server even if Thunderbird  cannot.

    Or an error message such

    535 5.7.8 Authentication Credentials Invalid (VM300) 

    Post back here to say either that authentication was successful or, if not, just post the error message line as per the example above. Don't post the full output from the Curl command. It is the VM3NN code that is the key information.

    Coenoby

  • Geoffers008's avatar
    Geoffers008
    Tuning in
    28 days ago

    Thanks, Coenoby, I've only just seen this but fortunately Thunderbird resumed normal operations late last night. No idea how or why, it just suddenly worked again!  I have noted your suggestion should this arise again.

    • JohnEdwards's avatar
      JohnEdwards
      Up to speed
      2 days ago

      I've had just the same problem, since yesterday afternoon. It has happened occasionally over the several years with this Thunderbird setup, but normally disappears either with a restart or overnight; not so today.

      After reading the above exchange, I ran the Curl command and received the "235 2.7.0 SMTP350 Authentication successful" response.

      So this means that my PC can connect with Virgin Media Mail. I can also use VM webmail (which uses a different password). That would seem to point to a Thunderbird problem, but I'm not aware of a very recent update, and if it were so, wouldn't ALL Thunderbird+VM users be suffering?

      I should add that my VM email address is a legacy one (ntlworld.com)

      I'm inclined to wait for another day or two before fiddling with settings (as the OP found)!

      But I'm fascinated to understand WHY this intermittent issue arises.

      • coenoby's avatar
        coenoby
        Very Insightful Person
        2 days ago

        I've had just the same problem, since yesterday afternoon. It has happened occasionally over the several years with this Thunderbird setup, but normally disappears either with a restart or overnight; 

        JohnEdwards 

        I also see Thunderbird (very) occasionally reporting issues connecting with the Virginmedia server but they seem to resolve themselves within minutes, hours at most,  with no help from me!

        I put them them down to temporary issues with the VM server.

        "I ran the Curl command and received the "235 2.7.0 SMTP350 Authentication successful" response."

        On the face of it, provided you used the same password in the Curl command as in your Thunderbird settings then there should be no reason for Thunderbird to fail to authenticate with the VM server.  It might be worth you checking the password in Thunderbird to confirm it still has the correct password.

        "I can also use VM webmail (which uses a different password). "

        Webmail connects to your VM mailbox in a completely different way to email clients and apps such as Thunderbird. However, if you can access your ntlworld email account via webmail it does at least prove that the ntlworld email account itself is still live and active. 

        Coenoby

  • JohnEdwards's avatar
    JohnEdwards
    Up to speed
    2 days ago

    Glad I'm not alone in (rarely) experiencing such an issue.

    I copied the password (4 words) from the Thunderbird settings, so it should be OK.

    Fingers crossed!

    • JohnEdwards's avatar
      JohnEdwards
      Up to speed
      2 days ago

      Glad I was patient - it's back after around 24 hours.

      Thanks for your support.