It is possible, with many ISPs, to use a Telnet program to do maintenance
on your mailbox on the POP3 mail server. This allows you to look at, and
possibly delete, any problem causing message (e.g. too large to download,
improperly formatted message, etc.)
The instructions below are based on the Win95 TELNET.EXE program. See here
for some other Telnet programs and operating
systems.
From the Win95 task bar, select: Start, Run..., and enter the
following:
telnet pop-server-name port#
(Note: if you start Telnet from the browser, rather than the Win95 Start
Run command, the syntax is telnet://pop-server-name:port# -
However, MSIE 3 has a bug and you must leave out the // on the address
line and use telnet:pop-server-name:port#)
Check your mail settings for the pop-server-name and port#.
Most POP3 servers use port 110.
For example:
- For Prodigy Internet: telnet pop.prodigy.net 110 - For AT&T Worldnet: telnet postoffice.worldnet.att.net 110 - For Netcom: telnet popd.ix.netcom.com 110 - For SpryNet: telnet m#.sprynet.com 110 (# is 1 to 5 and varies by user)
This will connect to the mail server. If you fail to get a successful connection
message, check the following:
You will want to enable Local Echo so you can see what you type. In the Win95
Telnet program this is under Terminal, Preferences. Also, you may want to
turn on logging to capture messages to a text file. In the Win95 Telnet program
this is under Terminal, Start Logging
For the connection, and each command that you enter, the mail server will
respond:
-ERR 999 message text
for commands it doesn't like (the 999 is an optional error code that varies),
or
+OK message text
if it likes the command. After each response, you can enter a new
command.
Note: When entering the following commands to the POP3 server, you may not
be able to use the backspace key to fix typing errors. Many POP3 servers
do not recognize that. They aren't expecting a person, but rather another
program that doesn't make typing mistakes. For example, if you key "STS(bs)AT"
(where (bs) represents the backspace key), you may see "STAT", but the POP3
server lilely will report that "STAT" is an unknown command. That's because
the server saw "STS(bs)AT". If you make a typing error, just hit Enter, let
the server report the error, and start the command again. However, if you
make a mistake on the USER or PASS command, you won't likely get a second
chance. In that case, enter the QUIT command and start the Telnet program
over.
Commands that you can/must use are:
USER userid
This must be the first command after the connect. Supply your e-mail userid
(not the full e-mail address). Example: USER john.smith
PASS password
This must be the next command after USER. Supply your e-mail password. The
password may be case sensitive.
The following commands may be used as needed:
STAT
The response to this is: +OK #msgs #bytes Where #msgs is the number of messages
in the mail box and #bytes is the total bytes used by all messages. Sample
response: +OK 3 345910
LIST
The response to this lists a line for each message with its number and size
in bytes, ending with a period on a line by itself. Sample response:
+OK 3 messages
1 1205
2 305
3 344400
.
RETR msg#
This sends message number msg# to you (displays on the Telnet screen).
You probably don't want to do this in Telnet (unless you have turned on Telnet
logging). Example: RETR 2
TOP msg# #lines
This is an optional POP3 command. Not all POP3 servers support it. It lists
the header for msg# and the first #lines of the message text.
For example, TOP 1 0 would list just the headers for message 1, where as
TOP 1 5 would list the headers and first 5 lines of the message text.
DELE msg#
This marks message number msg# for deletion from the server. This
is the way to get rid a problem causing message. It is not actually deleted
until the QUIT command is issued. If you lose the connection to the mail
server before issuing the QUIT command, the server should not delete
any messages. Example: DELE 3
RSET
This resets (unmarks) any messages previously marked for deletion in this
session so that the QUIT command will not delete them.
QUIT
This deletes any messages marked for deletion, and then logs you off of the
mail server. This is the last command to use. This does not disconnect you
from the ISP, just the mailbox.
There are other POP3 commands. For some more information on this topic,
see:
RFC
1939 which defines POP3 commands and error codes
How
to Enable and Interpret the Pop3.log File article, which is specific
to the Microsoft Internet Mail program (the logging only works with that
program), but it provides general information on what goes on with a POP3
mail server.
For additional help, information and resources, see my
Technical Help page.
Top of page Top of
section
For Mac and OS/2, if you don't have a Telnet program, check
out TUCOWS. You can also check out the
Software
section of my
Technical
Help page. There you can search a number of sites for freeware or shareware
Telnet clients.
Top of page Top of
section
file: /Techref/net/prodigy/pages/http/michael_santovec/pop3telnet.htm, 9KB, , updated: 2000/9/13 10:26, local time: 2024/8/14 13:19,
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