Can neither send nor receive messages through Thunderbird
My server is BT. All was working normally until I opened Thunderbird this morning. When I try to receive, I get "mail server responded server error - please try later" When I try to send, the box says it's connected to bt but in the end says the log in failed, invites me to retry (same result) with the option to enter new password, which is not an option as the password is correct. I know this because I can however access by mail via the BT online service but that is unsatisfactory because I use Thunderbird for filing my messages. This has happened before on several occasions. On contacting BT they say variously it is to do with their migrating from Yahoo, tell me normal service will be resumed in 48 hours or somesuch or, because I can access messages online, they deny it is a BT problem. Spent about an hour today on their chatline where they told me to delete the account and then reinstall it in order to revert to default settings but that didn't work. On one occasion a technician solved this issue in some clever way for which he needed my password. On all other occasions they have been unable to solve the problem and after a day or so, everything started working normally again. I'm pretty certain it is a problem at BT's end, but if anyone has found a way of solving it via Thunderbird, I would be very grateful for their advice please.
Chosen solution
I had same issue and same error message and we are not alone. All passwords etc ok and I could logon to webmail. It turned out that the BT and Yahoo servers are not in synch.
It would seem in your case all was rectified after a short time, but for anyone who needs the info.....
Use this link: https://login.yahoo.com/
Reset the password to the same password you are currently using to access webmail and which is also the same as being used in Thunderbird bt mail account.
If for some reason, you are redirected to anything other than what that link says above, then clear your browser cache and re try.
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mail server responded server error
As you said, the problem is at the BT/Yahoo end. It's their server after all.
On one occasion a technician solved this issue in some clever way for which he needed my password.
Not sure if this was so clever. I'd never ever give my password to BT or Yahoo. Hopefully you changed the password afterwards.
Thank you. Well he did solve the problem. Which is more than any of the others have managed to do. And yes, lovely though he was, I changed my password!
Service now back to normal, so it was BT's responsibility even though they denied it.
Chosen Solution
I had same issue and same error message and we are not alone. All passwords etc ok and I could logon to webmail. It turned out that the BT and Yahoo servers are not in synch.
It would seem in your case all was rectified after a short time, but for anyone who needs the info.....
Use this link: https://login.yahoo.com/
Reset the password to the same password you are currently using to access webmail and which is also the same as being used in Thunderbird bt mail account.
If for some reason, you are redirected to anything other than what that link says above, then clear your browser cache and re try.
Thank you Toad Hall. Not sure how logging in via yahoo would help with the Thunderbird problem? Or is this for people having the same problem with Thunderbird as I did, who can't log in to BT webmail? I'm not a fan of Yahoo., They keep trying to hijack me into their system and I resist vigorously!
If Thunderbird cannot get or send mail for a btinternet.com email address and 'Get Messages' only gets an error message: "mail server responded server error - please try later"
So, you try to logon to webmail using a browser and discover you can get access, so you know the username and password are good.
It could be that BT and the BT yahoo servers are not in synch and that's why you get the message from server "mail server responded server error - please try later". So instead of the usual BT website place to logon to reset password, you need to log in to Yahoo https://login.yahoo.com/ to reset the password to match Bt Yahoo and My BT for email passwords. Which is also the password used in Thunderbird to get mail from server.
Then everything starts to work again.
By using that link and resetting (not actually changing) the password to be exactly the same as you use to access webmail and same password Thunderbird uses, it seemed to get servers all in synch.
If BT have got all servers working again and you have emails arriving then all is ok, but if not then try the advice.
Topic is also here: https://community.bt.com/t5/Email/Mail-server-mail-btinternet-com-responded-Server-error-Please/td-p/1779409/page/4 Comments by Andy_W Anje MartinRowe57
Thank you Toad Hall. If it happens again - as it almost certainly will - I will try that trick.