I have an email which just sits in my Outbox. Instead of being bounced back, I instantly get this error message. What does this jibberish mean? Is this an old email, perhaps? How does my server know to instantly send an error…instead of trying to send only to bounce back???
“The message could not be sent because one of the recipients was rejected by the server. The rejected e-mail address was ‘estarnes@ocs1.apg.army.mil’. Subject ‘Jobs: Test & Evaluation’, Account: ‘Comcast Online’, Server: ‘smtp.comcast.net’, Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: ‘550 [PERMFAIL] destination not valid within DNS’, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 550, Error Number: 0x800CCC79”
I have had DNS problems with Comcast – Web problems, not email, but still…you might try powering down everything and disconnecting the modem from the computer. Power up the modem, reconnect it, and power up the computer. Try sending again.
The “instant failure” nature of the error is telling you that it’s not just that “estarnes” doesn’t exist, but that the Comcast mail system is completely unaware of any domain called “ocs1.apg.army.mil.” There’s no way the Comcast server can “try” to deliver the message - it’s got nowhere to go. That could be because that domain no longer exists, or it could be because a DNS table at Comcast is screwed up.
One thing to try: go to www.comcast.net, click on Email, log in, and try sending a message to that person using Comcast’s webmail. If it works from there, that points to a DNS problem at Comcast. If it fails there, too, it could still be a nonexistent domain or a DNS problem.
Second thing to try: set up a Hotmail account for yourself, and try sending the message from there. If that fails, it’s a pretty safe bet that the Army has renamed that “ocs1.apg.army.mil” domain, so the address is invalid. If it goes through, the problem is with a DNS table at Comcast.
If it turns out to be a DNS problem, you may just have to wait for Comcast to find and fix the problem. If you call them, they’ll assume that it’s your email program that’s loused up, and they’ll lead you around for a half hour, changing settings and generally wasting time. They never even imagine that you might know what you’re talking about, and that they have a problem.
ocs1.apg.army.mil is not a valid DNS zone. Call the person you are trying to email to verify the email address. My guess would be the user’s email is actually estarnes@apg.army.mil, but that’s just a guess and you don’t want to go filling up some poor soul’s email box with misdirected email.
SMTP error 550 seems to indicate that the outgoing server is rejecting an attempt to relay the message. If you’ve connected to the SMTP server through some other ISP, you’ll get this problem, since the recipient isn’t at a Comcast address either. Maybe that’s it?