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The Bat! can't connect to any pop server, The Bat! can't connect to any pop server
 
#1
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I guess I should've started here, but so far, I'm stumped by this one.  And so is Ritlabs Tech Support, iolo (System Mechanic) Tech Support (they're worthless, btw), and Comodo (Firewall) Tech Support (they tried, at least, and I don't think it's their problem, anyway).  So, can somebody here help me with this one?

First, the basics:  Vista Ultimate SP1, all updates installed.  The Bat! 4.0.34.  Outlook works (I use it at work...).  I've been using The Bat! for almost 9 years...  I have it configured to check 6 mailboxes on 4 different pop servers, and it can't connect to any of them.

It all started when I installed System Mechanic.  I've since uninstalled, cleaned the registry of anything to do with Iolo (that's a four-letter word, in case you hadn't noticed...), etc.  I've uninstalled Authentium AV, which got installed by System Mechanic.  I've upgraded my Windows from Home Premium to Ultimate (not to try to fix this problem, of course).  I've created support tickets with Iolo, Comodo (just to see if they could help), and Ritlabs.  Everybody's stumped.

BTW, when I enable transport logging for one of the accounts, no file gets created...  But Comodo does see The Bat! opening the pop connection.  But the log file simply says "Could not Connect to the server".  DNS is working, because the pop server name resolves to an IP address.  Any ideas, anybody?
 
 
 
#2
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seems a firewall issue to me.
Disable Comodo, all the modules.
Right click Comodo tray icon and select
Firewall Security Level -> Disabled
, then
Defense+ Security Level -> Disabled

If now you can connect, check & edit Comodo rules

BTW Comodo seems to have a problem with theBat, on my system it doesn't remember the settings for thebat.exe and from time to time pops and asks me what to do with it although I have configured it. If your Comodo is set not to ask but to silently block connection attemps of unauthorized apps, this could be it.
I think the problem is that the folder where thebat.exe is has an exclamation mark ! in the path (at least renaming the folder and redefining rules solved it)

Make sure Windows firewall is disabled too.
Edited: bigg one - 07 October 2008 23:23:09
 
 
 
#3
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Thanks for the reply - so you're the one that had the exclamation mark problem...  (Ritlabs Tech Support told me about that possibility, so we checked that.)  Tried completely uninstalling Comodo, when just disabling it didn't help.  No luck.  Tried renaming the director The Bat! runs from - no luck there, either.  And Windows Firewall is disabled.  It's truly bizarre....
 
 
 
#4
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if other apps can connect to pop servers, there are two possibilities - either something blocks thebat.exe, or theBat is corrupt.
If thebat.exe is blocked by name, renaming it to mail.exe or something may eventually fix the problem.
Also try booting in Safe Mode, what blocks theBat may not load in this mode.
Try starting the exe 'as administrator' from the right click context menu.

Although you've uninstalled SystemMechanic and Comodo, apps of this sort often can't be uninstalled completely. Check Windows services, and set suspicious non-Microsoft ones to 'disabled'.
Also check everything that starts automatically with Windows. A good tool for this purpose is Autoruns from sysinternals.com
 
 
 
#5
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It's a VERY weird problem, and I really appreciate your continued suggestions.  I agree that something must be blocking thebat specifically.

I've tried renaming thebat.exe, putting it in a different directory, reinstalling it (multiple times), etc.  I hadn't tried the Run as Administrator option, but I just did that, to no effect, unfortunately.  FWIW, it still doesn't create a protocol log file, either...

I've turned off all firewalls that identify themselves as such, used WinPatrol to log everything else running as a process or service and turned off anything it identifies as having anything to do with firewalls, iolo (there was a left-over iolo service running after I uninstalled System Mechanic), or antivirus, but none of that has helped.  I'll try the Safe Mode check next...
 
 
 
#6
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Booting in Safe Mode had no effect...

TheBat! couldn't connect to any pop server, and didn't create a protocol log...

Grrrrrr....
 
 
 
#7
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things are getting misterious :)
Not quite actually, as I understand your first post it used to work, so the problem is probably not in theBat.

The last thing that comes into mind is to create a new Windows admin account. It will have a brand new user registry and theBat may work from the new account in case the mess is in the per-user settings.
If it does not, manually create a new account in theBat and enter the same server settings as for one of the existing accounts. If even this doesn't work, I'm out of ideas. You'll probably have to run a Windows repair from a CD with slipstreamed SP1.  
 
 
 
#8
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Creating a new Admin account and running TheBat! from that account didn't make any difference, either.  Nor did creating a new account... :(

As for the Windows repair, I upgraded my Home Premium version of Vista to Business Ultimate, to no effect...
 
 
 
#9
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could it be outside of your PC? Router, proxy or something?
Try connecting to internet in another way - like through a dial-up connection.
Try changing pop3 server address from domain name to IP address.
TCP/IP filtering enabled?
You can't connect to pop3, but can you send mail?

BTW I'm not sure upgrading from one type of Vista to another is equivalent to repair. Most likely not.
If I correctly remember you can convert XP home to pro by replacing 2-3 files and a couple of registry entries
 
 
 
#10
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Outlook can connect to pop servers fine, but thebat can't.  DNS lookups and direct IP address connections alike are both unable to connect...

I guess a Windows repair is all that's left to try...
 
 
 
#11
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The Bat! uses somewhat newer Windows Sockets API calls, like WSAEventSelect, while may be broken, while other apps may be using older interfaces, and this may be the reason why Outlook works. Plese ask technical support to send you an .EXE file from Version 3 of The Bat! which did use older interfaces. Please let us know whether it helps.
 
 
 
#12
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Thanks for your help.  Does 3.99.3 use the older interfaces?
 
 
 
#13
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Hello,

I am a recent registered user of the bat pro v 4.0.34 and I've got exactly the same problem, the bat found the number of messages on the server but can't download them  :o  

the problem only exist with the bat client, not with others like foxmail, dreammail, becky mail outlook express etc...

I am a little bit disapointed because I can not use it :cry:  
Edited: Philippe Delaye - 26 October 2008 08:11:42
 
 
 
#14
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At this point, I'm pretty thoroughly disgusted.  I've been a user of The Bat! for 9 years (well, I guess I can't claim to be a user for the past few months, but not by choice...), and now I can't use it, and nobody has a clue why.  You'd think there would at least be a way to log something to figure this out.

Even Outlook works (and I HATE Outlook), but not TheBat!...
 
 
 
#15
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enable protocol logging in Account properties and check LGO files, where TB stores whole communication between server and client side
 
 
 
#16
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I've done that, but no files get created.  At least, they don't get created in the directory specified, and I can't find any files with the appropriate name anywhere else on my hard drives.  It's inexplicable - frustrating does not begin to describe it...  Tech support at Iolo has been pretending to be trying to figure it out for over 2 months, and nobody else has a clue either - this is the kind of stuff I've heard people say happened to them with other programs - and I don't think I believed them...
 
 
 
#17
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Well, by all means let me add something of my similar problem to this topic. First of all, I am using version 3.99.29 . I tried the latest version but my spam control (Cactus) did not work with the newer versions.

My problem: CAN'T CONNECT TO SERVER(s)

In another topic I said that my problem was solved, but it is not.

I have been working with TB for a couple of years now and without a problem. I did EVERYTHING that comes up to mind; uninstalled, cleaned the reg, manualy erased all folders, reinstalled an ... nope, could not connect. The strangest of all is, that if I re-install TB, everything works fine but after rebooting my system, the same problem comes up again. I can repeat this 100 times with the same result. What is configured or written at install, and does not come back again after a reboot??
 
 
 
#18
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I'm afraid I cannot help but I have a very similar problem. XP64 + The bat v4 (newest version) worked just fine but after I activated GPG + WinPT it cannot connect to the server of any account I have created. Other email programs can without any problem. In addition the GPG handling does some very weird stuff, too much to mention here. This all sounds like a major bug in The bat to me that can be triggered by different circumstances.  
 
 
 
#19
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I have completely uninstalled and deleted all files and folders related to TB and cleaned out the registry. After a complete re-install in a folder with a different name and configuration of all accounts, it seems to work again. The folders with the account information in /documents and settings/ were not removed so saved email was quickly attached again.

I am glad everything works again, and though I was considering to use another email program, I stick to TB for now  8)
 
 
 
#20
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I tried the complete uninstall, reg clean, reinstall to a different folder process, too, but it didn't help - I tried using Voyager from a different drive, even.

On the other hand, I've tried Thunderbird, Eudora, and Becky, and all of them work just fine.

I hate to ask this here, but can anyone recommend another e-mail program that would do a good job of importing my messages and attachments?  As I said, I've been using TheBat! since 1999, and I'd hate to not be able to have all my mail readily accessible.  Almost as much as I hate to switch from TheBat!...
 
 
 
#21
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Hi,
I have used the bat for many years. I have license to v3 and v4 upgrade.
But now I can\t connect to any pop/smtp server on another isp. Everything DOES WORK EXCEPT The BAT! I tried on different PCs.
I see the following error in the connection log:
!10/31/2008, 16:47:42: FETCH - Server reports error. The response is: -ERR Cannot connect to POP server <IP address removed> (<IP address removed>:110), connect error 10060
 
 
 
#22
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Same here.  I am not happy.
 
 
 
#23
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Same here.
Fortunately, I was using POP3 to access an exchange server. So for now I just switched to using MAPI.
Edited: Assaf Ben - 03 November 2008 02:22:14
 
 
 
#24
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Same here.
Fortunately, I was using POP3 to access an exchange server. So for now I just switched to using MAPI.
 
 
 
#25
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Since there are no followup messages I am guessing this problem still has not been fixed?

I had a Win XP system with thebat latest and it worked fine. I bought a new system, new harddrive, fresh install of Vista Business and re-install of the bat latest. After a few days I noticed a lot of Connect Failed messages for my accounts and the Connect window will open and stay open for several minutes(until it is time to re-fetch again). Sometimes it is so bad I have to reboot. When I do that, thebat loads all of my accounts quickly and on the first try with no connect fail messages. After a few hours it again becomes slow and eventually stops loading email from some accounts but after 2 or 3 tries it may load some mail. This leaves me wondering if i have mail that I am not seeing because it is not being downloaded. To find out, I have to reboot which is not much of a solution.

Would be nice to see a fix to this problem.
 
 
 
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