My problem is with an email account not downloading mail. I believe there is a simple solution, but I can't find it. Call this one my Popmail account. The Popmail POP server is behind a firewall, but port 110 is open to it and no VPN is required to connect to this server. This account has worked in the past and the mailserver has not changed any settings to my knowledge.
I have an Ipaq 6365 Pocket PC running Pocket PC 2003 Prem Phone GSM edition. Version 4.20.0, Build 14350. It has a TI OMAP1510 processor and 55.03MB RAM. I have a 1GB SD card. I have 8MB Storage RAM free and 8.5MB Program RAM free. By the way, the PPC is set up to save attachements on the SD card.
When I select this mail account, there is a connection automatically made to Telstra Bigpond GPRS. There is an apparent attempt to connect to the email server, there is an attempt to log on, then I am taken to the Account Password screen. The username and password are correct. I OK them (or re-enter them. I have tried both many times). I go back to the Inbox and am presented with the "Logging on" prompt again. I am taken back to the Account Password screen. If I cancel, I am presented with the error message, " Messages cannot be downloaded to your mobile device" and asked to check my settings and re-try. I have done this many times. The following is what I have tried.
1) Firstly, I am using two other mail accounts on this device. One is Gmail and one is Telstra. Both work perfectly as expected, using exactly the same settings as the Popmail account (except username, password and servers). Not a glitch. Upload and download, no problem.
2) I use exactly the same Popmail settings (username, password, servers etc) on my laptop, via a Bigpond Minmax CDMA wireless broadband card, and it works seamlessly. The settings are exactly the same as on my Pocket PC, as both connections are from Telstra Bigpond, thus the servers are the same for both devices.
I can ping the Popmail mailserver from the PPC. I can get a telnet response from the Popmail mailserver when connecting from the PPC (I don't have a program that allows me to complete the telent connection, I just wanted to try this to prove a point).
My boss has a new Ijam and he cannot download his email either. It fails in exactly the same way as my PPC. He has another Bigpond email account which works fine. On the other hand, I have two users using new Nokia phones who CAN connect to the Popmail mailserver and download and upload email using the same mail settings as my boss and I (I know, because I set both phones up).
Because this has been driving me nuts, I spent some hours with a tech yesterday. He telnetted into the Popmail server. When I made a telnet connection to the Popmail server, he could verify that I was connected. My IP changed every time I did so, but the IP range was consistent. However, when I attempted to get my email, even though the PPC established the GPRS connection and said that it had connected to the server and was attempting to log on, no such attempt was noted in the system logs.
I was going to attempt to blame our new firewall for the inability to connect, but the laptop and the Nokia phones connect, so it has to be something with the PPC.