This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Thunderbird receives but can NOT send emails.

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by david

dumbowsky
dumbowsky
more options

I can receive email using Thunderbird but can NOT send any. When I attempt a send, after a LONG pause Thunderbird displays the message: 

    "Sending the message failed. 
     The message could not be sent because the connection to the Outgoing server (SMTP)
     smtpauth.earthlink.net timed out.  Try again."

I've tried all the suggestions in similar reports - all to no effect. I've deleted and reinstall Thunderbird on the same machine and finally made a new installation on a second machine. I still get the same error whenever I try to send email with Thunderbird! Gmail sends and receives email just fine on either machine and I can also login directly to earthlink.net using the browser and send emails.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I can receive email using Thunderbird but can NOT send any. When I attempt a send, after a LONG pause Thunderbird displays the message: "Sending the message failed. The message could not be sent because the connection to the Outgoing server (SMTP) smtpauth.earthlink.net timed out. Try again." I've tried all the suggestions in similar reports - all to no effect. I've deleted and reinstall Thunderbird on the same machine and finally made a new installation on a second machine. I still get the same error whenever I try to send email with Thunderbird! Gmail sends and receives email just fine on either machine and I can also login directly to earthlink.net using the browser and send emails. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

All Replies (1)

david
david
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

You might try changing this setting - mailnews.tcptimeout - to a larger number. the default is 100 and changing to 250 or so might help. The config editor is at settings>general and scroll to bottom. You may need to exit and restart thunderbird.