Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2014 January 30

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January 30

Email - Relay access denied

I have been trying to send someone an email (I can only send the Info by email because thats what I've been asked to do), but every time I do I am getting a "Failure Notice" (MAILER-DAEMON) email back saying "Remote host said: 554 5.7.1 (that persons email address): Relay access denied [RCPT_TO].
I was able contact the person that I trying to email & confirmed that the email address that I was using was correct & that I had typed it in correctly, but when I tried to resend my email again I was still getting the same "Failure Notice" emails. Am I doing something wrong ? 194.74.238.6 (talk) 11:53, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

misunderstanding by dbfirs

554 5.7.1 doesn't look like either an e-mail address or an IP address. Did you mean 55.45.7.1 (which seems to be Fort Huachuca?) Dbfirs 13:06, 30 January 2014 (UTC) Yes that is 554 5.7.1. I actually "copied & pasted" all that straight from the email. 194.74.238.6 (talk) 13:12, 30 January 2014 (UTC) Try just clicking "Reply" from the e-mail that you received (assuming that it was from the person you want to reply to). Dbfirs 13:16, 30 January 2014 (UTC) From the "Failure Notice" (MAILER-DAEMON) email ? 194.74.238.6 (talk) 13:21, 30 January 2014 (UTC) No, I meant from e-mail where you got the address from. It sounds as if you don't have a valid e-mail address. If you are trying to contact someone near Fort Huachuca (USA) (from 194.74.238.6 in scouseland) then the address might be something like "someone@[55.45.7.1]". I think we need more detail to help, but don't post a private e-mail address here. How did you find out the faulty e-mail address? Dbfirs 13:25, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

... sorry, I think I've misunderstood your original post. The 554 5.7.1 is an error code from a Microsoft Exchange server at the recipient's end. For some reason, it doesn't like your e-mail or the attachments. Dbfirs 13:33, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

That error code is part of the SMTP standard: see RFC 821 and RFC 1893 (for the two parts of the error respectively), and Mozilla's practical discussion. It seems to indicate that it's more likely a rejection from the "sending" SMTP server (which is being asked to relay the message and refusing). --Tardis (talk) 13:42, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

The email address I used (the one that I'm trying to send someone some info i've been asked for) is a "...@...co.uk" email address (so I don't know why its coming up as Fort Huachuca (USA). But every time I try to send my email to that address I get the "Failure Notice" (MAILER-DAEMON) email.
I then contacted them to see whether I've got the wrong email address, I went onto their website & used their "Info@...co.uk" email address. But I was told that the email address I was originally given was correct & I still need to send the info to that first email address that I was given. But when I retry, I still get the "Failure Notice" (MAILER-DAEMON) email 194.74.238.6 (talk) 13:45, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

I was just about to modify my partial reply above. I'd assumed that you are able to send e-mails to other addresses, but obviously this needs to be checked first. If it's only this one address that gets the error, then the fault is probably at their end. Can you contact them through their website? Apologies for the irrelevant Fort Huachuca mentions -- I'd wrongly assumed that the 55 was part of the domain name. Dbfirs 13:51, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

Yep, I can send emails to other people & had no trouble. But with this email I've been told that the only way for them to except & process the info that I've to send is with that email address thats causing me problems. 194.74.238.6 (talk) 13:56, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

If you are sending from some kind of network, then there might be some filtering of allowable destinations, but if you are sending from a private e-mail provided by your ISP, or from webmail, then it is likely that the recipient thinks your e-mail is spam. Did it have a very large attachment? Could you split it? Could you try sending from a different e-mail address? Dbfirs 14:05, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

I've just tried sending from another email account & the moment I pressed "Send" got the same (Delivery to the recipient failed permanently & Technical details of permanent failure). Both email accounts I've been using are internet-based email accounts. The info is in a Word document thats only 204KB. 194.74.238.6 (talk) 14:26, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

Yes, a Word document of that size shouldn't cause problems. Possibly their server is configured to accept e-mails only from people on a pre-determined list, or maybe they've just made a mistake in setting it up. I'm worried by your phrase the moment I pressed "Send" because errors at the recipient's end usually take a while to be reported to you. Have you tried sending from a different computer? Dbfirs 14:36, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

Have you tried sending an email without an attachment? Similar to Dbfirs comment directly above, they may be set up to disallow particular attachments. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 09:12, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

I've tried sending from a different computer (where I am now), at a different building & i've tried sending with the info copied & pasted into the email. Still the same thing happens. 193.128.33.248 (talk) 09:51, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

Are all of your computers on the same network (library, university?) If so, then it is still possible that there is some policy that refuses to send to addresses at that particular domain. It's worth trying from a different network, just to be absolutely sure that the faulty server is a the recipient's end. Dbfirs 13:12, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

The first IP (194.74.238.6) belongs to the public computers in the library, & as far as I know all of the public computers in my local libraries share the same IP. The second (193.128.33.248) is for a local employment agency. 194.74.238.6 (talk) 13:18, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

(Sorry, I missed the change of IP address.) I think you've covered every possibility then, and proved that the fault is at the recipient's server. I can't think of any other possibility. (Perhaps the recipient blocks all e-mails from Scousers, but even that theory fails because they wouldn't know that the Employment Agency is in Liverpool because they use a Verizon ISP and it doesn't seem to be on any blacklists.) Dbfirs 14:33, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

Okay then. Thanks for your help. 194.74.238.6 (talk) 14:43, 31 January 2014 (UTC)