MyBB Community Forums

For the past couple of days I've been trying to get my email to send out to members who've subscribed to a thread. Unfortunately, they do not receive an email when someone replies and are subscribed. The odd thing is that an email will send out to confirm a change of email address.

I tried PHP, and even tested the PHP script that has been mentioned here. The script was successful, but I still was not receiving emails. I contacted my host and they recommended SMTP.

For the past 24-hours plus, my hosting provider has been testing SMTP through all available methods they know of. I even gave them admin rights so they could work on it themselves. In the end, this is what they said.

From host ====================================
We have tested all SMTP - port settings, but it doesn't work.It appears to be a bug with the script, it doesn't initiate SMTP request in a correct manner. We recommend you to contact the support/forum with this error and apply a fix/patch or any latest smtp plugin, if available.
From host ====================================

These are the errors I've received continually with multiple settings by both my host and myself within the Email Settings ACP.

System email log ================================
The SMTP server does not support any of the AUTH methods that MyBB supports

MyBB was unable to authenticate you against the SMTP server

The mail server does not understand the RCPT TO command. Reason: 553 sorry, that domain isn't allowed to be relayed thru this MTA (#5.7.1)
System email log ================================

My forum address is www.modeltrainfactory.com/forum

I am currently running the latest version with a fresh install.

Unfortunately, this is not the only issue I've had since setting up a couple days ago. I've gone through countless errors and have posted questions to these forums with very few replies. I realize people are busy, but when it comes to the actual forum software itself not running, I would hope someone would have an answer. At minimum the owners of the software.

My new members are signing up daily, but the experience so far has been negative. I've been doing more administrative work than you can imagine and am starting to lose confidence in MyBB. I read all the reviews that put MyBB up against other forums, and it continually got high ratings. I just want to get this fixed so my members can use the forum. Please, is there anyone that can help with my countless problems? I would be ever so grateful. I at least need to know if this software is going to work for me before the forum grows.

Thanks

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I also received back a reply as to why my host won't use PHP.

From host ======================================
PHP mail function uses local smtp of web server that doesn't have rdns/ptr record, due to which mail servers those checks for ptr records, will reject such mails. Also PHP mail function doesn't set correct return-path header. It uses same return-path headers for all users on the webserver, and if any one user spammed or send huge amount of emails, this address gets blocked, causing email delivery issue for all mail() function users on this webserver. Due to these reasons, we do not recommend anyone to use php method.
From host ======================================

I'm not sure what they mean, but I thought I would post this as well.

Oh man.. I'd shut down public access to your site until all these hickups are fixed.
Because really.. if a site is not functional.. you're just going to hurt your site's reputation the longer u leave it running without functioning properly.
Did you use a fresh install of MyBB 1.6.8 or did you use a 1 click install from your host?


Side note, I recommend to setup your DKIM key in your google apps account administrator advanced settings and your DNS (just a txt entry added to DNS). Sometimes DNS will not allow to add a proper txt key but technical support usually can for you (in most cases).
So long as the emails from your domain can be authenticated, it will usually end up in the inbox of recipients and not their junk mail.

If you setup your own server from scratch then your situation may be too advanced for majority of users on this forum.
If you're on a standard shared host provider or your server was setup by professional experts and all you have to do is upload files and go then maybe some of us can help.

Thanks for the reply. So far, the forum is in beta mode for about 13 people I know directly. We have not sent out any sort of announcement yet, so I don't expect a huge influx of people.

I did a fresh install of 1.6.8, and did not use a 1-click-install.

I'm currently on a shared hosting environment, but have access to make changes to just about any setting. Like I said, my host tried everything they could think of without luck.

You mentioned setting up a DKIM key, which I'm not aware of. At one point I had this email directed at a google apps account, but have since restored the default MX records to point at my host. Are you seeing anything associated with google apps with my domain? It's curious you should mention that.

(2012-06-18, 09:34 PM)Zero One Wrote: [ -> ]Are you seeing anything associated with google apps with my domain? It's curious you should mention that.

No I'm going off of memory because I think I replied to one of your posts before, I haven't checked your DNS records.

It's definitely strange you're having these problems on a shared host with a fresh install of MyBB.

I used to have MX records issues with one of my hosts because I was using a different company for DNS than my host.. so let's say people type in MyWebsite.com which would take them to godaddy (my DNS) and then take them to hostcow (myhost). Or whatever companies, just using these company names to help explain. I would enter the proper DNS entries with my DNS but my forum emails still wouldn't work.. aggravated I did some digging around and found that my webhost was the one who was messing up my MX records (I had no idea, I though all records are controlled by DNS.. not host). So I called the webhost and had them manually and properly update my MX records and txt records since their client side CP wouldn't allow me to edit my records properly.

EDIT:
yep, I suggest to read up on DKIM keys and Sender ID, SPF.

What about the script email error that my host mentioned? Do think that's a valid point, or are the MyBB email scripts programmed correctly? I wish I could get one of the Admins here to comment on this too.

Also, is the same email script being used to send out forum emails the same one used to confirm an updated email address? Like I said, confirmation emails are sent when an email has changed, but forum ones are not.

Well it's now beyond my level of expertise.. sorry.
If it's really a script email error from a fresh MyBB install from Here... well then most of us would have that same error right?
Consider the following only if you are 110% sure you have a good & proper install of MyBB.
This assumes your email settings are correct.

What you can try is disable all of your plugins and see if your email will work.
If it works, then enable your plugins one by one until you find the culprit.

It also could be a volume issue with your host.. sometimes hosts take on more than they can chew.. that's why for new forums I do research to find the best quality host for the money at the time. With shared hosting it's a marketing bs game and many reviews are bs.. so finding literally the best one for what you need is not easy.

I've seen threads for email issues often (but not too often) and even made one myself for support when I first switched to MyBB. I didn't get the right answers so I did all my own research for "MyBB email setting" on the net and found the solution that worked for me. Which is those email settings I quoted to you earlier.

I'm not sure how MyBB sends and receives email, I've never bothered to look at the code.

Edit:
Also some plugins make core edits.. these type of plugins can sometime be the evil incarnate.. so be careful.

I ran a couple more tests using different email addresses and different users. This is what I came up with.

User 1 =========================
[email protected] (email is a custom IMAP hosted email through google)
Errors received
The mail server does not understand the RCPT TO command. Reason: 553 sorry, that domain isn't allowed to be relayed thru this MTA (#5.7.1)

MyBB was unable to authenticate you against the SMTP server

The SMTP server does not support any of the AUTH methods that MyBB supports
====================================

User 2 =========================
[email protected] (email is a custom pop hosted email through my host and is the same domain of my forum)
Errors received
MyBB was unable to authenticate you against the SMTP server

The SMTP server does not support any of the AUTH methods that MyBB supports
====================================

User 1 =========================
[email protected] (email is a custom IMAP hosted email through google)
Errors received
The mail server does not understand the RCPT TO command. Reason: 553 sorry, that domain isn't allowed to be relayed thru this MTA (#5.7.1)

MyBB was unable to authenticate you against the SMTP server

The SMTP server does not support any of the AUTH methods that MyBB supports
====================================

User 2 =========================
[email protected] (is a hosted email through yahoo)
Errors received
The mail server does not understand the RCPT TO command. Reason: 553 sorry, that domain isn't allowed to be relayed thru this MTA (#5.7.1)

MyBB was unable to authenticate you against the SMTP server

The SMTP server does not support any of the AUTH methods that MyBB supports
====================================

If you look carefully, you can see that the first email address associated with user 2 had one less error, and actually received the email. This email was the only one that shared the same domain name as the forum. All other emails that I swapped out with user 1 and 2 received no emails.

I find it odd that user 2 received the email with 2 out of the 3 errors, and it shared the forums domain. Does this mean anything to anyone?

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Ok, this is total madness. I created another test email using the same domain as my forum. I now have two email address that share my forum's domain, and I get both emails.

When I check my error log:
Errors received
MyBB was unable to authenticate you against the SMTP server

The SMTP server does not support any of the AUTH methods that MyBB supports

So if I use an email from my domain, I receive the two above errors, but I receive the email. What could this be? No one else is receiving emails. Please help.

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Can anyone tell me whether or not they think this is still on my hosts side? That would save me a lot of time knowing if these errors are host related or MyBB software related.

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Ok, I hope someone is reading all of this. I know there is a lot to look through without any big breaks above.

I think I figure something out. I just used a Gmail account to send my email and it sent successfully to two different email addresses. So does this definitely mean that it's my hosts issues? Why would gmail send the email, but not the host?

Also, is there a way to show that it's from the forum, and not an email address?

IMHO.. find a different host... get a refund. I've had to switch a few times myself until I found a good one.. leaves you time to troubleshoot through backdoor anyway while DNS propagates. But please don't be mad at me if you take my advice and end up having this problem again... .... ...

Thanks, Gunner. I have actually been thinking of another host. It's so hit and miss with them you know? We'll see what they say to my latest findings.

Any idea how to make it look like its not come from a gmail account when they receive and email? I read that it has something to do with the admin email, but that didn't work. That admin email doesn't show up--only the mail account.

yea.. the fact that you tried gmail, hotmail, yahoo, etc.. I think is proof enough it's not a login credential problem.. of course they may still blame it on MyBB.. but if they pass the buck like that with vague details again... screw em.. (most host reps don't know java from jquery anyway so who are they to say a code is wrong) time to move on.

Hey you're welcome, good luck.