I am posting this to PCBUILD because it seems to be an OS related
configuration problem. Although I teach networking, this problem I need some
help with. I have a Windows XP Pro computer at work that I connect to from
home using RAS. This connects me to the school network. On my home machine,
I use Outlook XP as a mail client. A while back, I started having difficulty
sending mail through the schools SMTP server. From my office machine, there
is no problem, but from my home machine Outlook often (most of the time)
reports a problem connecting to the SMTP server. The other  dialup
connections that I have available have no such problem.
 
The RAS configuration assigns an IP address that is within the same network
as the office computer - I have reserved 4 IP addresses for that purpose
with the system administrator. RAS is set for PPP (rather than SLIP)
connection and header compression is enabled, in case that matters.
Authentication is required by the SMTP server, and has been properly
configured in the Outlook mail account. I tried various changes to the
Outlook settings, but no improvement - most attempts to send fail. Every
once in a while, sending messages go fine (why do I keep trying? - stubborn
I guess). The SMTP administrator claims that no changes have been made to
the server, but I have been told by an associate who had visited our IT
center that some changes were made, but the folks running the center don't
understand very well how to configure the servers.
 
What I don't understand is why my office computer works fine with Outlook XP
and the same SMTP server, while my RAS connection does not. Any suggestions?
Also, possibly unrelated, Outlook on the office computer takes about 40
seconds to start up but works fine otherwise. I did change it from using
exchange to pop3 when the slowdown started.
 
Thank you for any insights and help.
 
Peter
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The NoSpin Group
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