Connection Problems with Mail Client

Troubleshooting problems connecting to POPFile's POP3 Proxy can be difficult as there are many reasons why you could fail to connect, ranging from other proxies and virus scanners to firewalls.

Although every person's setup will be different, it's generally a good idea to start with the basics and eliminate the obvious issues in a methodical manner. Try stepping thru each of the following to identify the problem on your system:

  1. Make sure POPFile is running. Check the task manager (ctrl,alt,del) and look for an instance of either popfilef.exe, popfileif.exe, popfileb.exe or popfileib.exe. If you do not find one, then POPFile is not running. Start POPFile and try connecting to the UI after it starts up (allow a minute or so for it to load).
  2. Confirm you are using the correct pop3 server address in your mail client, the server should be set to 127.0.0.1 (or localhost)
  3. Confirm which port you are using for your incoming email server (sometimes called POP3) by checking your mail client and POPFile's configuration tab. They should match. If they do not, your email client will not be able to connect to POPFile.
  4. Test access to the server by using telnet. Start a telnet session and connect to the machine where POPFile is running on, e.g, 127.0.0.1 on port 110 (pop3) 993 (IMAP). On Windows machines, simply click Start, then Run, then enter the following:
    telnet 127.0.0.1 110

    (Note: use whatever port you have set in the POP3 listen port of POPFile's configuration) in the open box and click ok. Telnet will start up and you should get following reply or similar:

    +OK POP3 POPFile (v0.21.2) server ready
    1. This tells you that you are connecting ok with POPFile, now try logging on to the POP server. Type USER followed by a space then the server's name ':' and the real user name you have,
      USER real.server.address:myusername
    2. You should get a response similar to this:
      +OK something
    3. Now type your pass (put your real password where the x's are):
      pass xxxxxx
    4. You should see a response like this:
      +OK .. welcome
    5. Assuming you get the response, you know that POPFile is correctly proxying to your POP3 provider, so your problem lies entirely with the configuration of your mail client. Go double check that.
  5. Check for other programs using port 110. Shutdown POPFile, then open a DOS box and issue the netstat command, e.g.,
    netstat -an > output.txt
    start notepad.exe output.txt
    1. Check the output of the netstat command for anything listening on port 110, for example, the sample netstat output below shows two instances of port 110.
      Active Connections
      
       Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address        State
       TCP    0.0.0.0:25             0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    0.0.0.0:5679           0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    0.0.0.0:106            0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    0.0.0.0:110            0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    0.0.0.0:123            0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    0.0.0.0:8080           0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    0.0.0.0:1417           0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    0.0.0.0:1172           0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    0.0.0.0:1684           0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    0.0.0.0:162            0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    0.0.0.0:5106           0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    0.0.0.0:5107           0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    0.0.0.0:5108           0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    127.0.0.1:110          0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    127.0.0.1:1392         0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    127.0.0.1:4473         0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    127.0.0.1:8080         0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    127.0.0.1:4785         0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    192.168.1.2:137        0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    192.168.1.2:138        0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       TCP    192.168.1.2:139        0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
       UDP    0.0.0.0:123            *:*
       UDP    0.0.0.0:162            *:*
       UDP    127.0.0.1:1392         *:*
       UDP    127.0.0.1:4473         *:*
       UDP    127.0.0.1:4785         *:*
       UDP    192.168.1.2:137        *:*
       UDP    192.168.1.2:138        *:*
    2. If you find that port 110 is in use, it indicates that some other piece of software installed on your machine is already using port 110. You should change POPFile's POP3 Listen port to something other than 110, using POPFile's configuration Page. You'll need to also change your mail client to use the new port.
  6. If you have changed the default pop3_port setting in the Advanced section from 110 to another value, ensure you RESTART POPFile as simply applying the settings does not make POPFIle use the new value!
  7. Disable SSL connections between your mail client and POPFile. To use SSL connections with POPFile, please see: Can I use POPFile if I want to use SSL connections to my server? - Email Client configuration
  8. Disable any other proxies you may have running, for example, HotPOPPER, YahooPOPS, and similar proxies. See if POPFile works with them disabled.
  9. If you are running a personal firewall, make certain you have configured it to allow the popfile exe permission to accesss port 110. See the detailed instructions in Configuring Proxies, Firewalls & Antivirus
  10. Try disabling any virus scanner you may have operating on your machine.
  11. Try disabling or removing any ad blockers you may have operating on your machine.
  12. Obtain Ad-aware from Lavasoft and run it to remove all spyware from your machine. Some spyware causes issues with your TCP/IP stack and may make it impossible to connect to POPFile.
  13. If your email server requires authentication for sending messages, do NOT select the “Use same settings as my incoming mail server” (an option in Outlook) selected. You will need to re-enter your username and password specifically for sending mail. See Configuring Specific Mail Clients for details.
  14. Confirm your TCP/IP stack is operating correctly. As a last resort try the LSP Fix utility, it is a free utility to repair damaged Winsock settings: http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm. This may no longer be necessary with Windows XP SP2, it is supposed to repair LSP damage automatically. The utility does support XP, but was written before XP SP2. We don't know if it works or is safe to use on SP2.
    1. If LSPFix doesn't help, WinSock XP Fix might (Windows XP only). This method has not been tested by POPFile developers. If you are using XP SP2 running this at the command prompt, is supposed to do same thing:
      netsh winsock reset
  15. If all of the above troubleshooting does not solve the problem, post to the POPFile Help Forum for further help.
 
troubleshooting/connectionpop.txt · Last modified: 2014/02/28 16:51 by 127.0.0.1

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