Troubleshooting: Cannot receive emails
Updated on 20-October-2016 at 10:16 AM
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Are you only having trouble receiving e-mails, or is sending also disabled? Are you sure they're not common mail login issues ?
If web-mail is working, and your issues are regarding a third-party email client, make sure you have the correct settings in use:
- POP3 or receiving server: mail.my_domain_name.com (replacing my_domain_name.com with the site's domain name)
- SMTP or sending server: Your Internet Service Provider's (ISP) sending (SMTP) server. Contact your Internet Service Provider to get this information. Alternatively, you can try using mail.my_domain_name.com (replacing my_domain_name.com with the site's domain name) but it may not work because communication to third-party SMTP servers is often blocked by your ISP in order to cut the amount of SPAM being sent through their network.
- Email address: your_account@my_domain_name.com
- Username: your_account@my_domain_name.com
- Password: The password you used when the account was created.
Verify that the settings are correct in the E-mail Accounts page
Double-check that the email address you are entering in the email client interface matches the email address that exists in the E-Mail Accounts Details page when the email was created.
To verify this, choose Site Settings > E-Mail Accounts. Select the email account and click Edit to view the Details page.
Compare the email address in the field with the one you entered in the email client new account fields.
Check the domain name settings in the Site Domains page
After verifying that the email address created in the Admin Console matches the email address entered in the email client account information, the next step involves verifying that the domain name settings are accurate.
Follow these steps:
- Choose Site Settings - Site Domains.
- Expand the MX section and ensure the correct domain is set up for mail.
In addition to verifying the DNS settings in the Manage Domain Name area of the Admin Console, also ensure that you have redelegated your domain name to point to this system's hosting servers.
Note: You must use this service to host the domain if you want to use this system's integrated email service.
If you prefer to use an external email provider, please read hosting mail externally for more information.
Checking the MX record settings for the site
You can use a third-party DNS service to check the MX record . The following list includes examples of DNS services you can use:
You can also search and find other resources available online to check the MX record for your site.
In this example, the catfishdesigns.com.au site is using DNSStuff.com to look up the MX record.
Enter the domain name in the provided field and select MX from the type menu, as shown below:
After the lookup is complete, the results look similar to the screenshot below:
In the results, you can see that mail. has correctly been appended to the domain name A type prefix.
This is the same result you'll be looking for when you test the MX record for your domain name. Also, notice that the MX record points to the IP address: 203.134.157.115. That means it is correctly configured.
If you see different values when you test your site's domain name, double-check that you've added a domain name to the site using the DNS tools in the Admin Console.
The DNS tools are accessed by choosing Admin > Site Settings > Site Domains.
Additionally, log into the website of the registrar you used to register your domain name, and verify that you've redelegated your domain name to point to Business Catalyst's nameservers.
To learn more about using DNSStuff to look up the settings of a specific domain name, watch this video .