Server Timeout to Thunderbird and Webmail

[#1]

I've been having multiple problems with Plusnet mail for just the last two days. Manifests itself in several ways:

I'm using Thunderbird email client, two different versions on two different computers. Both computers partially download a mailbox, and then network activity stops. Deleted items are downloaded again. Popup message says the server disconnected. This never happened before.

So went to the plusnet webmail client. There I see when inspecting Folder sizes, they all return zero even though there are lots of messages.

When deleting some messages today in the webmail, I've had multiple errors. Sort order is set to "None". I get:

Error: Connection dropped by IMAP server  Query: Expunge
Error: Connection dropped by IMAP server Query: Select "Inbox"
Server Error: Failed to send UID Copy Command
Server Error: Failed to send UID Expunge Command
Server Error: UID STORE: Courier-IMAP Server shut down by signal.
Server Error: SELECT: Courier-IMAP Server shut down by signal
Server Error! (error)

I raised the issue as a ticket yesterday and today added the 1st three server error messages (all they wanted) by phone, but response can be 72 hours. Meanwhile I've tried various things: Increasing the Thunderbird server timeout (was never a problem in the past), Restarting my router, Completely removing and reinstalling the plusnet account from my desktop Thunderbird including deleting all the files, And very tediously in the Webmail deleting some emails by hand to reduce space used. Attempting to delete more than about 3 emails at the same time always brings up one of the above errors and doesn't work. I've not had a warning message from plusnet about space being exhausted, though the operator tells me a whole folder (presumably the inbox) can be archived if the account goes over. I've asked for this to be checked and reinstated if so.

My wife (a sub-ID within my overall plusnet account) is able to work fine from the same Thunderbird client. All other broadband operations work fine. 

Plusnet account name is [Removed]. The ticket ID is INFOPS-61560

Any help or advice very gratefully received. Thanks.

Moderators Note: Personal information removed

[#2]

Hello @norman77

Thanks a lot for reaching out and I'm sorry to hear that you're having problems with your email service. We're aware of some issues with the webmail service, most of which now appear to be resolved. It was advised that setting your clients up again via POP would resolve this, though this might cause further problems as you have your mailboxes set up on different devices.

The original task to get this looked into was rejected as it was raised incorrectly, sorry about that.

I've just re-raised it and will be back in touch with a further update once our NetOps team have got back to me.

[#3]

Hello adam945 and thanks for reading and response.

This morning in the webmail I can see the sizes of the mailboxes , so I know that I'm only

at  around 50% of quota.

My main problem now is that the server is closing down  after downloading a few emails into

Thunderbird. I'm  fairly convinced that my account at Plusnet is corrupt (remember,

two different Thunderbird versions on 2 different computers, and my wife can use her plusnet

mailbox without problems on one of those). 

Can the technical team see that the server is crashing when processing my emails?

Thanks again.

By the way, POP is a non-starter for me, multiple devices in use as you say.

[#4]

Hi @norman77

Thanks a lot for your response. I don't think this problem is on your account only though, other customers are reporting similar issues relating to IMAP servers timing out.

The account does look fine from our end though. I'll have a dig around for some updates today and will reach out if I find anything out.

[#5]

New problem manifestation this morning: When sending email, I get:

An error occurred while sending mail. The mail server responded: <my account name> sender rejected from this host.. Please verify that your email address is correct in your account settings and try again. Has my desktop computer been blacklisted?

The account details haven't changed?

[#6]

Hey @norman77,

I'm sorry to hear this. Have you included any attachments in the email you've tried to send? Was this an email addressed to multiple recipients?

[#7]

Hello  TheMightyAJ, Thanks for starting to look at my new problem.

After failing (today is the first time I've had this particular failure), I did a few tests. Sending a one-line test message to myself

or to my wife fails repeatably with this message from my desktop, even though the account credentials

"worked" yesterday (with all the caveats about IMAP server timeouts (not yet solved), as noted in previous posts).

With the same plusnet credentials on my Laptop, I can send email fine (still have the timeouts, though). That, plus the text of the error message, is

what led me to think that my desktop computer had been blacklisted by you in some way. So as another  test, using a differerent scratch login account on my desktop, I created a new user in Thunderbird with credentials copied from the working laptop. 

That account doesn't get as far as downloading one email. 

My wife can send fine from her plusnet account on this same computer using thunderbird. 

Any thoughts welcome.. Thanks.

[#8]

Hey @norman77,

Apologies for the delayed response. We've altered some settings on your account this afternoon which will hopefully help with the issues you're experiencing. These changes will take affect after about 4 hours, so please let us know if you continue to experience any issues after then and we'll be happy to review the case further.

[#9]

Hello TheMightyAJ,

Thanks for continuing help. 

(A) Timeout issues. I tested in the evening, about 6 hours after your post. I still got timeouts. Attempting to alleviate the problem, emptied my sent folder into my desktop, and all my inbox pre-2021. Estimate now only 100MB of Plusnet server used (webmail says 914 emails using 0 Bytes).  Also updated to very latest Thunderbird 9.1.1. This morning at 9:00 seems better - no timeouts yet after "repairing inbox" twice in Thunderbird (i.e. re-downloading all headers). Seems slow, but problem certainly alleviated, THANKYOU.

(B)  EMail sending. See post by Thorn12 dated ‎07-08-2021. That fix also worked for me - change login from <account>@plus.net to <alias>@<account>.plus.com - so I deduce that my <account>@plus.net may also have been blocked in the firewall on relay.plus.net [not so wide of the mark when I originally asked if my computer had been blacklisted]. So anyway, sending is also working with alternate credentials.  I suggest however that you ask your technical support why incoming traffic on a plusnet-allocated IP address and with valid credentials is being blocked.

Thanks for your support.