I too have run the Exch best practise and the only questionable concern is the network driver updates but as the main NIC is an on-board driver which is running the latest driver software but is over 2 years old. I’m reluctant to purchase a separate NIC.

I have little doubt the problem only started occurring around the time I installed EXC SP2.

Strange though that after a few weeks of total SMTP mail failures I have now started receiving a few again as it was back in December but they are usually many hours behind. It also appears that a good proportion of the mails are sent during or shortly after a reboot then it hangs again.

I downlaoded the fix from the microsoft but not sure whether to install it on our server.In the article it’s mentioned that this network compatibility problem occured in Server 2003 sp2 but we have server 2003 sp1 and exchaneg server 2003 sp2 in all our Front end and backend servers. So, do i need to install it in server 2003 sp1.

I have tried using Ex Best pratice analyser to check the issue and i got a warning in front end as our network card drivers are 2 years old and need to be upgraded.Can i do it in front end and check it, will there be any issues ?

Thanks for your support, i will try and get he solution as soon as possible.
Good Luck to you,

Thanks

My first response to this post was due to your problem was very similar to a problem I had with an exchange server, same issues being described, and mine was my exchange server was out of space! It was weird, if I rebooted it would buy me 48 hours of time before the queue locked up again.

Have you called Microsoft?? That would be my next step if Technochic cannot help. Again I’m sorry and I feel your pain, nothing like having faulty email program. Keep your head up someone has your answer.

I have not tested the telnet thing when the mails got stuck, coz it happens in the working hours and users will suffer if they did not get mails, so i just restarted the server as soon as possible.
But any how i will try the telnet next time.

Could you tell what will be problem if the telnet does not work?

Thanks

“For additional information that may help you resolve this problem, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 153119, XFOR: Telnet to Port 25 to Test SMTP Communication.”

I would try and test when email is piling up in that queue, just a thought and sorry you have not gotten anywhere with this problem, If you have problems with the telnet test it is probably the mail server setup.

Hope this helps

While the additional diagnostics might give a clue I find it difficult to believe it’s a potential NIC card software/driver issue.

I run SBS which obviously runs a number of applications on the same server inc ISA. At no time do i suffer any other network interface issues it’s only emails sent directly via the exchange server that I have a specific issue with. I can in fact quite happily send emails via works stations using POP3 via the SBS/exchange server, it’s only SMTP that appears to have the issue.

I’m assuming people here are using email ISP’s other than BT as I’ve been experiencing a number of other email issues with their service for several months.

I enabled all the options in Diagnosting Logging and find the event id when the error occurs.
Its Event ID 7002 :Smtp Protocol and it says,

ID 7002 reads: This is an SMTP protocol warning log for virtual server ID 1, connection #1060 The remote host 65.168.34.131, responded to the SMTP command “rcpt” with “451 Requested action aborted:local error in processing”. The full command sent was RCPT To:<email address>” This may cause the connection to fail.

I had a search on the MS forum and it says,

To resolve this error, try one or more of the following:

Make sure that the latest network card drivers and firmware are installed.

Run any network diagnostics software that was supplied with the network cards to verify that the network cards are functioning correctly.

If the network cards are configured to automatically detect the speed of the connected network, change the configuration to use a specific speed setting.
For additional information that may help you resolve this problem, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 153119, XFOR: Telnet to Port 25 to Test SMTP Communication.

Please let me know if you find some other solution for this problem.