Strange thing happening with Outlook Express

[Dagk]

Hi,

I changed my ISP a a couple of months ago now and ever since my Outlook Express (XP Pro SP3) has not been behaving properly. I am able to send and receive emails when I first turn on my PC but after a length of time e.g 2 hours, Outlook express fails to connect to my ISP's mail server in order to receive emails and I receive an error message saying cannot connect to mail server. If I want to send emails then I am still able to do so it is only failing to receive emails. The way to fix this is to log off (not reboot) and then connect and it works everytime until a period of time later when it stops connecting again. I have contacted my ISP who is unable to replicate the problem. I have also increased the time out intervals but this has not helped. I am now getting annoyed at having to log off and on again just to get my emails. What could the logging off and on be doing to fix the connection issue? Can I somehow do something else without having to log off to fix this? Thanks.

[Steve R Jones]

What is the exact error message and error code?

Does the error happen while you're using the pc or does it happen after the pc has been sitting idle for the two or so hours?

[Dagk]

Sorry I am not at the PC at the moment but the error mesage is the standard "Outlook is unable to connect to your incoming (POP3) e-mail server. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).". I will be able to post the actual message (and error codes) later today when I am back at the PC after replicating the problem. It can happen both when the PC is idle and also when I am continually using it. Thanks.

[Dagk]

I should add that it is my email host (LCN.COM) that is causing the problem not my ISP email (O2). I do not use my ISP's email service but instead use a 3rd party company (LCN.COM) that hosts my email as it was them that I purchased the domain name from. It means I can change my ISP without having to move my domain name every time. What is interesting though is that when Outlook express stops connecting to my email host's pop server to download new mail (LCN.COM) I can still connect to my ISP's pop server (O2). So its seems to be a particular problem connecting to LCN's pop server after an interval of time to receive mail but can still connect to their mail server to send ok.

[Dagk]

Typical! I tried to re-create the problem last night to post the actual error message but my mail was connecting fine. I will have to wait until it happens again and then post it. Could take a few days.

[Dagk]

Ok! I was only on the PC for around 10 minutes and my Outlook Express has stopped connecting to pop.lcn.com.

Error messages are:

Your POP3 server has not responded in 30 seconds. Would you like to wait another 30 seconds for the server to respond?

Account LCN.COM
Server pop.lcn.com

and also this error message:

Your server has unexpectedly terminated the connection. Possible causes for this include server problems, network problems, or a long period of inactivity. Account: 'LCN.COM', Server: 'pop.lcn.com', Protocol: POP3, Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10053, Error Number: 0x800CCC0F

If I log off and on again it starts working again until the next time it does this.
Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Welshjim]

Dagk--Perhaps of help
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/813514
Are you using a Norton product?
http://www.symantec.com/norton/suppo...080529115031EN

[Dagk]

Hi Welshjim,

Thanks for the links. I'll go through them. I ran an SFC /SCANNOW last night (with the XP cd in the drive) after the connection broke. It seemed to perform repairs on a number of files so I will see if that has helped. I was using Norton but changed a number of months ago now to AVG thinking Norton that was the cause but the problem remains. I also turned off email scanning for both incoming and outgoing mail but again the problem remains.