Yahoo SMTP mail server problems over past 2 weeks.

jnevik · Friday, July 10th, 2009

How many people are experiencing yahoo SMTP email server connection problems?

I use the business service smtp.bizmail.yahoo.com and have been having connection problems for 2 weeks. Spoke with Yahoo support and they gave a reason 'DNS caching problems' at my service provider as the issue. However today when it stopped working again, I did a traceroute from the service provider and from our rackspace host and both systems could NOT connect to the yahoo SMTP servers. Traceroutes below.

[~]$ traceroute smtp.bizmail.yahoo.com
traceroute to any-smtp.bizmail.mail.fy4.b.yahoo.com (68.142.200.11), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
3 vlan901.edge3.dfw1.rackspace.com (72.3.128.19) 2.580 ms 2.562 ms 2.544 ms
4 bbr1.dfw1.rackspace.net (72.3.128.249) 3.344 ms 3.055 ms 2.764 ms
5 exchange-cust2.da1.equinix.net (206.223.118.2) 2.906 ms 2.958 ms 2.774 ms
6 ae2-p101.msr1.mud.yahoo.com (216.115.104.107) 198.397 ms ae2-p111.msr2.mud.yahoo.com (216.115.104.111) 4.034 ms ae1-p101.msr1.mud.yahoo.com (216.115.104.99) 3.669 ms
7 ten-9-1.bas1.mud.yahoo.com (68.142.193.29) 3.861 ms ten-9-1.bas2.mud.yahoo.com (68.142.193.31) 4.311 ms ten-8-1.bas1.mud.yahoo.com (68.142.193.25) 4.461 ms
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[~]$

C:\Program Files\Support Tools>tracert smtp.bizmail.yahoo.com

Tracing route to any-smtp.bizmail.mail.fy4.b.yahoo.com [206.190.48.12]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 143 ms 160 ms 189 ms smtp1-f.biz.mail.vip.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.48.1
2]

Trace complete.

popowich · Friday, July 10th, 2009

Hello,

I do not use that SMTP server for my email, but hopefully I can help you find an answer or at least w workaround for your problem. It is not uncommon for a traceroute to not work at all hops of the trace. If you do a dig or an nslookup what do you get as an answer for that hostname? Here are my results:

;; ANSWER SECTION:
smtp.bizmail.yahoo.com. 300 IN CNAME smtp.bizmail.mail.fy4.b.yahoo.com.
smtp.bizmail.mail.fy4.b.yahoo.com. 300 IN CNAME any-smtp.bizmail.mail.fy4.b.yahoo.com.
any-smtp.bizmail.mail.fy4.b.yahoo.com. 300 IN A 206.190.48.12

There are a lot of CNAME's in there. To temporarially rule out the DNS what happens if you use the IP address 206.190.48.12 as your outgoing smtp mail server setting in your email program? As of right now that appears to be a valid and working mail server for the name that you are trying to use.

Trying 206.190.48.12...
Connected to smtp1-f.biz.mail.vip.re2.yahoo.com (206.190.48.12).
Escape character is '^]'.
220 smtp102.biz.mail.re2.yahoo.com ESMTP

Did Yahoo Support say that the DNS answer you were getting was old an not valid?

Another common problem is anti-virus software on your computer scanning and blocking outgoing emails. It may also be scanning and working correctly but your mail program is timing out before the virus scan has finished. Did you make any changes or download a new anti-virus program around two weeks ago? If you are using free software, my preference is Avast! If you are never able to send email you should also check the firewall settings and blocked programs list if you have a firewall on your computer.

I hope that helps, and

to Email Questions! -Raymond

jnevik · Sunday, July 12th, 2009

Thanks popowich for your reply. I think it's yahoo that is having issues with their DNS servers or networking.

As today the traceroute works and therefore sending email works:

C:\Program Files\Support Tools>nslookup smtp.bizmail.yahoo.com
Server: dns.rnc.net.cable.rogers.com
Address: 64.71.255.198

DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: any-smtp.bizmail.mail.fy4.b.yahoo.com
Address: 206.190.48.12
Aliases: smtp.bizmail.yahoo.com, smtp.bizmail.mail.fy4.b.yahoo.com

C:\Program Files\Support Tools>tracert smtp.bizmail.yahoo.com

Tracing route to any-smtp.bizmail.mail.fy4.b.yahoo.com [206.190.48.12]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms [192.168.1.1]
2 66 ms 21 ms 9 ms 10.222.0.1
3 21 ms 15 ms 16 ms 66.185.89.173
4 42 ms 12 ms 11 ms 69.63.248.81
5 28 ms 50 ms 26 ms 69.63.248.141
6 27 ms 48 ms 23 ms 24.153.3.150
7 31 ms 35 ms 46 ms as-0.pat1.dce.yahoo.com [216.115.101.144]
8 64 ms 71 ms 36 ms ae1-p140.msr1.re1.yahoo.com [216.115.108.17]
9 85 ms 38 ms 30 ms t-2-1.bas1.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.33.89]
10 44 ms 38 ms 41 ms smtp1-f.biz.mail.vip.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.48.1
2]

Trace complete.

C:\Program Files\Support Tools>

SueG · Thursday, July 15th, 2010

I am having similar problems today. Since about noon, I can no longer send. The webmail works fine.

Is there a place to check for server outages?

popowich · Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Hello,

Are you having a problem sending to or from the Yahoo mail servers?

There is not a Yahoo mail server status page that I'm aware of.

If you are an ISP Postmaster having a problem sending email to Yahoo check the Yahoo Postmaster site.

If you are a user having a problem sending email from your Yahoo account are you getting an error messages? If it's a intermittent problem try to wait it out or check this link for software conflict troubleshooting tips: How to troubleshoot Yahoo Mail accounts with connection problems and browser timeouts

If you are receiving a warning about having sent too many emails today you have have been hacked/phished. If that is the case immediately change your password, change your security questions/answers, and make sure that no forwards have been added to your account giving a 3rd party access to password reset confirmation link emails.

-Raymond

SueG · Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Thanks for the quick response. As suddenly as it started, it stopped and everything is now back to normal. GMail was working fine through all of it.