IMAP stopped working

[harrycambs]

I can no longer login to the virginmedia imap server and smtp on my mac or iphone. Gives invalid email address error.

Got an ntlworld email and I did update to the  new virginedia servers a few years ago and was working fine for 20 years until Monday.

Webmail login works fine with the same exact login.

I can access other imap email servers from my mac and iphone.

I did notice they where doing some changes on the email system last few weeks, like marked all redirected email as spam.

Telephone helpline was pretty useless as they have no idea what imap is, I did file a complaint and was told to look at help pages , basically telling me was fault on my end.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

[用心棒]

It would be helpful to see what, if any, error code is returned by the SMTP server in this situation. Open Terminal application and enter the following where username:password is replaced with your email address and password, i.e. richard.branson@virginmedia.com:Y54kpX5g:

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

Do not post the resulting output here but instead review it for possible reported causes and then post just the redacted part here or the VM error code.

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[harrycambs]

* Trying 212.54.56.51:465...
* TCP_NODELAY set
* Connected to smtp.virginmedia.com (212.54.56.51) port 465 (#0)
* successfully set certificate verify locations:
* CAfile: /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
CApath: /etc/ssl/certs
* TLSv1.3 (OUT), TLS handshake, Client hello (1):
* TLSv1.3 (IN), TLS handshake, Server hello (2):
* TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS handshake, Certificate (11):
* TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS handshake, Server key exchange (12):
* TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS handshake, Server finished (14):
* TLSv1.2 (OUT), TLS handshake, Client key exchange (16):
* TLSv1.2 (OUT), TLS change cipher, Change cipher spec (1):
* TLSv1.2 (OUT), TLS handshake, Finished (20):
* TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS handshake, Finished (20):
* SSL connection using TLSv1.2 / ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
* Server certificate:
* subject: CN=email.virginmedia.com
* start date: Oct 19 08:24:18 2021 GMT
* expire date: Nov 20 08:24:18 2022 GMT
* subjectAltName: host "smtp.virginmedia.com" matched cert's "smtp.virginmedia.com"
* issuer: C=BE; O=GlobalSign nv-sa; CN=GlobalSign GCC R3 DV TLS CA 2020
* SSL certificate verify ok.
< 220 csmtp3.tb.ukmail.iss.as9143.net cmsmtp ESMTP server ready
> EHLO DESKTOP-8JNH0KE
< 250-csmtp3.tb.ukmail.iss.as9143.net hello [92.40.178.247], pleased to meet you
< 250-HELP
< 250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN
< 250-SIZE 52000000
< 250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
< 250-PIPELINING
< 250-8BITMIME
< 250 OK
> AUTH PLAIN
< 334
> *REDACTED*
< 525 5.7.13 Authentication Denied (VM321)
* Closing connection 0
* TLSv1.2 (OUT), TLS alert, close notify (256):
curl: (67) Login denied

[用心棒 · Accepted solution]

Good to see that you edited and redacted your post but the data has been exposed so do change your password ASAP.

The posted output showed a VM321 error indicating that too many unsuccessfully authentication attempts have been made in the last hour. Review which devices are attempting to send via the email account and either take them offline for an hour or reduce the frequency of sending.

[harrycambs]

Thanks, that is great response, I think I tried that last night and will try to see what else might try to login at home.

[Lee_R]

Hi harrycambs, thanks for posting and welcome to our community.

Sorry to hear you're having issues with accessing emails via imap server.  Have you had the opportunity to follow the advice of your fantastic fellow community member? If so, how are things now?

Regards

Lee

[harrycambs]

Made it work today after switching everything off last night thanks.

[Zoie_P]

Glad to hear this harrycambs, 

Please pop back if you need anything 🙂 

Zoie