IMAP mail stopped working.

[rednoise]

About 10 days ago I stopped being able to send and retrieve email via IMAP using Thunderbird. I can still send and receive directly from the Roundcube webmail interface. Thunderbird reports no errors when trying to get email (or I don't know where to look); sending mail produces the error message "The message could not be sent because the connection to Outgoing server (SMTP) x13.x10hosting.com timed out."

These are the IMAP and SMTP settings that had been working for many months. Are they still correct? What else can be done?

IMAP Server name: x13.x10hosting.com
IMAP Port: 993
user name: my email address
connection security: SSL/TLS
authentication method: Normal password

SMTP server name: x13.x10hosting.com
SMTP port 465
user name: my email address
connection security: SSL/TLS
authentication method: Normal password

[this is an edit - I had mistakenly typed the SMTP port as 463. I actually was using 465.]

 

[mrburnsx]

it should’ve never worked from the beginning. SMTP Port is incorrect, correct port is 587

 

[rednoise]

it should’ve never worked from the beginning. SMTP Port is incorrect, correct port is 587

I see that I mistyped the SMTP port - I had it set to 465, not 463. But it had been working all along until recently. I just now changed it to 587 per your suggestions, but it still doesn't work. I get the same error message from Thunderbird, "The message could not be sent because the connection to Outgoing server (SMTP) x13.x10hosting.com timed out." I suspect that message may not be describing the error accurately.

But what about IMAP? Are those settings correct? I note that when Thunderbird checks that account for new mail, I get no visible error message. It just doesn't see any new messages I know are there.

Are the correct settings documented anywhere? If so, I can't find them.

 

[mrburnsx]

http://gjr.x10.mx/#mail has the correct settings for IMAP and SMTP.

Is Thunderbird up to date? Have you tried deleting the account and readding it?

 

[rednoise]

http://gjr.x10.mx/#mail has the correct settings for IMAP and SMTP.

Is Thunderbird up to date? Have you tried deleting the account and readding it?

Thanks for the response. This gets me part way there.

What I found is I can send and receive mail only of I shut off all security, that is, if I set the servers up for plain IMAP and SMTP. If I follow your instructions for secure IMAP and SMTP it again doesn't work. Having no security is obviously not ideal. What's so mysterious is why it had been working for so long and then suddenly changed. Either they changed something on x10hosting's end, or there's something about a recent Thunderbird update.

Thunderbird is up to date. I don't think deleting and re-adding the account would help because I have the same problem on three different computers. I might try it, though, if nothing else works.

 

[karrx10h]

Hi, mates.

"X13" user here too. Thunderbird reports that the certificate of "x13.x10hosting.com:993" expired on 2025-08-13.

Maybe thats the issue.

 

[rednoise]

Hi, mates.

"X13" user here too. Thunderbird reports that the certificate of "x13.x10hosting.com:993" expired on 2025-08-13.

Maybe thats the issue.

That might have something to do with it. The timing is right - that's about when my mail stopped working. But now...

I think things are working again. As mrburnsx suggested, I deleted the account from Thunderbird and re-added it, letting Thunderbird choose the settings from its database. The settings it came up with were partly different than what I had. The IMAP settings are now:


IMAP Server name: rednoise.x10host.com (my domain name)
Port: 993
user name: my email address
connection security: SSL/TLS
authentication method: Normal password


SMTP settings are these:

SMTP Server Name: rednoise.x10host.com
Port: 465
User Name: my email address
Authentication method: Normal password
Connection Security: SSL/TLS

=================

I'll re-do my other 3 computers soon and I'll report back. It appears that x10hosting changed something on their end that made the previously-working sever name not work.

 

[karrx10h]

For now, it seems it's all working correctly again.