Cannot send attachments using Entourage 2001 or OE 5.0.2

[Mike Rosenberg]

I have a client with a 500MHz iBook, 384MB RAM, running Mac OS 9.1,
using Comcast Cable as his ISP. Since several days ago, he cannot
reliably send attachments over 20K using his preferred email client,
Entourage 2001. Anything larger than that gets transmitted part way
then just stops, with no error message ever apearing. The type of
attachment has no effect, nor does the type of encoding used, and it's
variable how much of the attachment gets sent. Entourage doesn't freeze
- he's able to quit, but that takes quite some time. (He told me it can
be upwards of half an hour).

Things I've done:

- Ran Disk Warrior 2.1 and Norton Disk Doctor 6.
- Installed the Office 2001 Service Release 1.
- Changed his smtp server from mail.attbi.com to smtp.comcast.net (which
is a change that was supposed to have been made at the end of June).
- Reinstalled Office 2001 and SR 1 after deleting the old version _and_
all extensions with Microsoft in the name.
- Backed up his Microsoft Identities folder and set up his account from
scratch.

Needless to say, all of this had no effect on the problem, else I
wouldn't be posting. Since he already also had Outlook Express 5.0.2
installed, I tried that and encountered the same problem. I also
installed Eudora, for comparison, and had no problems at all sending
attachments with that, nor were there any problems using Netscape.
Comcast has told him there are no problems at their end, and I believe
the result with Eudora and Netscape bear that out. He also has had no
problems sending attachments using Comcast's web mail, which has been
his workaround so far.

Obviously, one solution would be for him to switch to Eudora (for
example), but for now he's bent on continuing to use Entourage 2001, and
I'm out of things to try.

Any ideas?

--
Mike Rosenberg

<http://www.macconsult.com>
<http://bogart-tribute.net>

[Andreas Rutishauser]

Salut Mike

In article <1g07ndh.1488c3lv39vhyN%mike@POSTTOGROUP.invalid >,
[email]mike@POSTTOGROUP.inva[/email]lid (Mike Rosenberg) wrote:

> I have a client with a 500MHz iBook, 384MB RAM, running Mac OS 9.1,
> using Comcast Cable as his ISP. Since several days ago, he cannot
> reliably send attachments over 20K using his preferred email client,
> Entourage 2001. Anything larger than that gets transmitted part way
> then just stops, with no error message ever apearing. The type of
> attachment has no effect, nor does the type of encoding used, and it's
> variable how much of the attachment gets sent. Entourage doesn't freeze
> - he's able to quit, but that takes quite some time. (He told me it can
> be upwards of half an hour).

set the MTU value to 1492 (default is 1500).
You'll need a utility like IPNetTuner to do so.

Cheers
Andreas

--
MacAndreas Rutishauser, <http://www.MacAndreas.ch>
EDV-Dienstleistungen, Hard- und Software, Internet und Netzwerk
Beratung, Unterstuetzung und Schulung
<mailto:andreas@MacAndreas.ch>, Fon: 01 / 721 36 47

[Mike Rosenberg]

Andreas Rutishauser <andreas@macandreas.ch> wrote:

> set the MTU value to 1492 (default is 1500).
> You'll need a utility like IPNetTuner to do so.

Thanks, Andreas, we'll try that. I remember doing that for a router
once and was wondering how one would do it with the cable modem.

--
Mike Rosenberg

<http://www.macconsult.com>
<http://bogart-tribute.net>

[Mike Rosenberg]

Andreas Rutishauser <andreas@macandreas.ch> wrote:

> set the MTU value to 1492 (default is 1500).
> You'll need a utility like IPNetTuner to do so.

My client was out of town, so I wasn't able to get back to him right
away. I remember dropping a router's MTU setting from 1500 to 1492 to
fix a similar problem another client was having sending attachments via
her DSL ISP, so I was hopeful your suggestion would solve this one.
Alas, it did not.

To summarize and update, my client cannot reliably send attachments over
20K using either Entourage 2001 or OE 5.02 via his Comcast cable
connection on a 500MHz iBook, 384MB RAM, running Mac OS 9.1. The
following have not changed that:

- Changing smtp server from mail.attbi.com to smtp.comcast.net (which
is a change that was supposed to have been made at the end of June).
- Running Disk Warrior 2.1 and Norton Disk Doctor 6.
- Rebuilding the desktop
- Rebuilding the database (both the typical and advanced options)
- Removing Office 2001 using MS's removal tool and reinstalling it,
along with all of the available updates
- Backing up his Microsoft Identities folder and set up his account from
scratch.
- Zapping PRAM
- Dropping MTU from 1500 to 1492 using IPNetTuner
- Doing a clean reinstall of Mac OS 9

After all of these, the problem remains. Attachments MAY eventually go
out if he waits hours or even overnight, or they may just stop part way
along, yet he can send any attachment quickly using Eudora or Netscape.
Not using Entourage anymore is an option he's resistant to choosing, so
I'm looking for fresh ideas.

--
Mike Rosenberg

<http://www.macconsult.com>
<http://bogart-tribute.net>

[Mike Rosenberg]

Mike Rosenberg <mike@POSTTOGROUP.invalid> wrote:

> To summarize and update, my client cannot reliably send attachments over
> 20K using either Entourage 2001 or OE 5.02 via his Comcast cable
> connection on a 500MHz iBook, 384MB RAM, running Mac OS 9.1.

Followup:

My client's problem persists, but I've now heard from three other
people, all having the identical problem sending attachments from
Entourage 2001 with Comcast as their cable ISP. No one I know here
using Entourage 2001 with any other ISP is having this problem. Based
on this, we're set to demend that Comcast look into this rather than
blame the customers' computers.

--
Mike Rosenberg

<http://www.macconsult.com> Macintosh consulting services for NE Florida
<http://bogart-tribute.net> Tribute to Humphrey Bogart

[Mike Rosenberg]

Mike Rosenberg <mike@POSTTOGROUP.invalid> wrote:

> My client's problem persists, but I've now heard from three other
> people, all having the identical problem sending attachments from
> Entourage 2001 with Comcast as their cable ISP. No one I know here
> using Entourage 2001 with any other ISP is having this problem. Based
> on this, we're set to demend that Comcast look into this rather than
> blame the customers' computers.

Final followup: One of the my clients has now had Comcast pay a visit.
Swapping out the cable modem resolved the problem. I seriously doubt
that anyone will ever apologize to my client for having put him through
this.

--
Mike Rosenberg

<http://www.macconsult.com> Macintosh consulting services for NE Florida
<http://bogart-tribute.net> Tribute to Humphrey Bogart

[Ron Dozier]

In article <1g130j1.16qu8f917qn5tuN%mike@POSTTOGROUP.invalid> , Mike
Rosenberg <usenet@macconsult.com> wrote: >Mike Rosenberg
<mike@POSTTOGROUP.invalid> wrote: >

>> My client's problem persists, but I've now heard from three other
>> people, all having the identical problem sending attachments from
>> Entourage 2001 with Comcast as their cable ISP. No one I know here
>> using Entourage 2001 with any other ISP is having this problem. Based
>> on this, we're set to demend that
>>Comcast look into this rather than
>> blame the customers' computers.

>>Final followup: One of the my clients has now had Comcast pay a visit.

>Swapping out the cable modem resolved the problem. I seriously doubt
>that anyone will ever apologize to my client for having put him through
>this. >

I would suspect something like that. Changing the MTU Maximim
transmission unit and MSS the maximum segment size to around 500 with
IPNettuner http:// [url]www.sustworks.com[/url] probably would have fixed the
problem. For those listening I had a similar problem that I could not sent
anything above 500 bytes with Apple's AIrport with one particular dial-up
ISP. With the other IPNettuner made it work. In the final stage Apple
says that their Airport is incompatable with some ISP's getting them off
the hook. Ironicly, the latest firmwaare updat to the Airport fixed the
problem. Upload of FTP, mail messages and webforms > ~500 bytes failed.


Ron