cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Unable to send Email - smtp server/ Auth issue

Wainwrin
Tuning in

Folks - Grateful for any advice, unable to send mail (Mail on Mac and iPhone) ntlworld.com email address,

Managed to send 2 tests after switching off Bitdefender VPN  - but that doesn't help now and never used to cause an issue.

Able to send from VM Webmail. Continually getting errors - 

Authentication Denied (VM320), Authentication Denied (VM321), 

The SMTP connection to server “smtp.virginmedia.com” failed.

Tried resetting "app" password via account settings and repopulating settings in Mail verifying recommended settings for servers and ports etc. Looked in community for help and ran:  curl -v smtps://smtp.virginmedia.com -u and submitted results to  https://netreport.virginmedia.com/netreport/

Currently still unable to send emails from Mail app or iPhone

Grateful for any help

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

coenoby
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

@Wainwrin wrote:

Authentication Denied (VM320), Authentication Denied (VM321), 


The explanations for those two error codes are:

  • VM320 error code means too many successful authentications using your email account credentials have been made to the VM SMTP email server within an hour.
  • VM321 error code means too many unsuccessful authentications using your email account credentials have been made to the VM SMTP email server within an hour.

In both cases they result in the VM SMTP server blocking access to your account so your email apps are unable to send  emails from your VM email account. However, VM webmail works in a different way and so will be unaffected by those errors.

I would suggest not attempting to send or receive emails from the apps for at least an hour, but the longer the better . Then try running the Curl command again and see if it still reports a VM320 or VM321 error. (That will be towards the very end of the resulting output.)

If it does, or if the problem comes up repeatedly, you need to investigate why the VM email server is receiving such an unusually large number of authentication attempts with your VM email address and a valid password.

It could be that a smart device on your network has been infected with malware and is attempting to send spam emails. Or it could be that your email credentials are being used by a spammer .

Either way, it would be worth changing your VM password and mail app password.

Coenoby

.

 

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media.

Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks

See where this Helpful Answer was posted

3 REPLIES 3

coenoby
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

@Wainwrin wrote:

Authentication Denied (VM320), Authentication Denied (VM321), 


The explanations for those two error codes are:

  • VM320 error code means too many successful authentications using your email account credentials have been made to the VM SMTP email server within an hour.
  • VM321 error code means too many unsuccessful authentications using your email account credentials have been made to the VM SMTP email server within an hour.

In both cases they result in the VM SMTP server blocking access to your account so your email apps are unable to send  emails from your VM email account. However, VM webmail works in a different way and so will be unaffected by those errors.

I would suggest not attempting to send or receive emails from the apps for at least an hour, but the longer the better . Then try running the Curl command again and see if it still reports a VM320 or VM321 error. (That will be towards the very end of the resulting output.)

If it does, or if the problem comes up repeatedly, you need to investigate why the VM email server is receiving such an unusually large number of authentication attempts with your VM email address and a valid password.

It could be that a smart device on your network has been infected with malware and is attempting to send spam emails. Or it could be that your email credentials are being used by a spammer .

Either way, it would be worth changing your VM password and mail app password.

Coenoby

.

 

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media.

Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks

Many thanks for your assistance @coenoby - have run the curl command again today and got a successful return  - "connection left in tact" etc - also tried sending email again today and successfully sent to myself and Gmail.

Changed my mail app password yesterday, so hopefully will have no more problems.

I was concerned it was attributed to my Bitdefender VPN as even yesterday is seemed to help when I disabled it briefly, but work ok with VPN on today.

As suggested I will keep an eye on this, Many thanks again😀

 

coenoby
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

@Wainwrin 

I'm pleased to hear that things have settled down. Let's hope they stay that way.🙂

Coenoby

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media.

Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks