0x800CCC0F error

[Anthony Kim]

Okay, here's the problem...

I keep getting 0x800CCC0F error even though I have no message to send!
I'm using Outlook 2003 and my ISP's mail server says,

"553 not allowed, MAIL FROM: <>"

Well, I guess they're running some kind of spam filter to block out spam
mailers and that's fine with me, but I am NOT sending any mail!

I've searched everywhere to locate this *ghost* message that Outlook keeps
trying to send, but couldn't find it. Does Outlook cache the mail
somewhere?

I am pretty positive that it's not my AV program or some other program
that's interfering with Outlook. What I do suspect is that one of the mail
I received had the read confirmation receipt flag on, and somehow Outlook
got confused and keeps sending it in nobody's name...

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jeff Stephenson [MSFT]]

You're right, it's a read receipt. Outlook is sending it as "MAIL FROM: <>"
because that is what is *required* by Internet standards, which your ISP has
chosen to violate. Start by complaining to your ISP about their violation.
Are you running the beta of Outlook 2003? In the released version, Outlook
will first try to send in compliance with Internet standards, but if that
fails it will back off and try sending using your email address in hopes
that it will work.

 

[Anthony Kim]

You're right, it's a read receipt. Outlook is sending it as "MAIL FROM: <>"
because that is what is *required* by Internet standards, which your ISP has
chosen to violate. Start by complaining to your ISP about their violation.
Are you running the beta of Outlook 2003? In the released version, Outlook
will first try to send in compliance with Internet standards, but if that
fails it will back off and try sending using your email address in hopes
that it will work.

Thank you for such a prompt reply!

I complained to my ISP as you suggested, but they claim that they're not
using any spam filtering. Tried arguing with their tech support, but to no
avail. Maybe I should switch to their competitor.

Oh, and my Outlook version is 11.5608.5703. I believe it's the release
version. I've also applied the latest patches.

I still get the error messages, but now that I know the cause of the
problem, I feel much better. Thank you again. Keep up the good work!

 

[Jeff Stephenson [MSFT]]

It doesn't necessarily have to be a spam filter - I think there's a way to
configure the sendmail program (which many ISPs use for their SMTP servers)
to do this. They should look in their configuration file (sendmail.cf) and
see if there's anything there that could be causing this.

Yes, you're running the released version, which means that it *should* work.
Could you turn on diagnostic logging (see
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q300479) and post
the OPMLog.log file (preferably as an attachment) after this error?

 

[lorraine]

hi,
I am having the same problem as you,i cannot
send/receive e-mails,it has the same error message as
yours,i have tried pc world but they have not
replied,also microsoft who have not replied yet.Do you
know how to fix this problem yet.I would be grateful for
any help in correcting whatever is wrong,
thanks,
Lorraine

 

[Jeff Stephenson [MSFT]]

I'm puzzled by Outlook's behavior here - the log shows that it never tried
to resend after the server rejected the initial MAIL FROM. If you really do
have the released (as opposed to a beta) version of Outlook 2003, the log
makes me think that this is something other than a read-receipt. In the
read-receipt case, the MAIL FROM address would be null (<>), the server
would reject it, and then Outlook should try using your email address. I
don't see that retry, so I wonder if this is a message with a non-null MAIL
FROM address that the server is, for some reason, rejecting. The real
address doesn't show in the logs - we hide them to protect privacy when
they're posted to a newsgroup - so I can't determine that. You might
contact your ISP to see if they have some restrictions in place that you
should know of.