Thunderbird - Unable to Login /Get Emails etc

[Cluster-Lizard]

Here we go again - my annual broken email thread. 🙂

As of yesterday (now 24hrs) I have been unable to get my emails using up to date Thunderbird (v102.12). I updated to that on Friday/Saturday and it was working fine until yesterday evening. As usual I've not changed any settings.

It looks from the information Thunderbird provides that it is trying to connect as normal to my onetel.com email address > mail.talktalk.net server but is not being successful. I should be getting a password prompt dialogue box but it is simply not appearing so I can't sign in and get my emails using Thunderbird.

That suggests Thunderbird is being actively prevented from accessing my emails.

Signing in directly to my TalkTalk email account - no problems.

So somebody, somewhere has broken something, a security certificate issue possibly as that has happened before with Thunderbird and TalkTalk mail servers.

Any help/fix ASAP would be appreciated.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

No problem, thanks for letting me know

Chris

[Cluster-Lizard]

Yes, it is indeed now working again properly - no problems.

Thanks for the quick response, information and fast fix - much appreciated.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi Cluster-Lizard,

Can you please retest and let us know if it is now working

Thanks

Chris

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi Cluster-Lizard,

There is an email issue at the moment, an incident has been raised and it currently under investigation. Apologies for any inconvenience

Chris

[Cluster-Lizard]

1st SEPTEMBER 2023

Thunderbird (v102.14.0) has suddenly started reporting that the login to my web mail has failed.

Working yesterday 31.08.23 no problem but when I've tried many times in the last hour it is reporting that when it tries to connect to my email account and I'm prompted to re-enter the password.

Now I know that is OK because, as usual, I can login directly to my TalkTalk email account using that password so, again, it appears to be a Thunderbird issue. However, this time, disabling my AV's Mail Shield temporarily has not 'fixed' the problem.

I'm suspicious of that being the resolution/cause in the previous case too because, magically, a short time after I started having to use Thunderbird with the AV Mail Shield off I turned it back on again and found the problem had disappeared. It has been working perfectly ever since.

Of course this might be a temporary issue caused by who knows what that will be resolved as quickly as it has occurred. But I'm guessing last time it was another security certificate update issue that was quietly fixed after I bought it to TalkTalk's attention here.

So I'm reporting it in the hope that is all it is and it can be sorted out ASAP.

[Cluster-Lizard]

Thanks for the quick reply but I've just edited the previous post because I've identified the culprit: AVAST my anti-virus's Mail Shield, again.

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Email/Thunderbird-New-Server-Settings-Problem/m-p/2921553#M16317...

For whatever reason the exception I added to that or to Thunderbird, I'm not sure which or how, must have stopped working for some reason. The fairly recent TT email security certificate renewal even though a month ago now seems likely to be involved - AVAST takes time to react to anything. 

Problem is I'm not getting any prompt about the certificate this time, as in that previous case. I think the problem 'magically', resolved itself, the exception was enabled, because if it had not I would have posted again in that thread.

Not sure what to do now.  

[Gondola]

I checked from Gmail and Yahoo Mail to TalkTalk Mail and Thunderbird 102.10 picks up as normal. I don't normally update clients until the updates are proven but I have updated to 102.12 and still working perfectly as expected.

The last incoming server certificate renewal was on 14 May 2023. The certificate does get renewed annually around May time and was renewed around a week before the old certificate expired.

Troubleshoot by seeing if you can connect to the mailbox Inbox using different software and if that also cannot connect then maybe the mailbox is restricted to webmail only access.  

EDIT - I see you found the fault was an AVAST blocking issue.

[Cluster-Lizard]

I use the Thunderbird client for web mail access. As stated, via Firefox or another browser, I can sign in directly using my TalkTalk email password no problem. Using Thunderbird is, or should be, essentially no different from accessing it in the same way. In fact I'd be less surprised if I could not sign using my preferred browser version. 

I don't know how it can be anything my end that is the problem. Thunderbird is fully up to date and was working perfectly >24hrs ago. My settings have not been changed and any supposedly "insecure settings" (which, exactly?) are the ones that were being used then and have been since I had the last Thunderbird email issue.

That could have been around a year ago but I'd have to check.

TalkTalk must have changed the goal posts yesterday, there is no other obvious explanation and that is why I said suspect it might be a security certificate, possibly renewal, matter causing this unforeseen consequence when using Thunderbird.

EDIT

****

Went back and just had a look at the previous email problem I had posts here. They were apparently caused by AVAST not liking the then new security certificate. I think that maybe what is happening this time too.

I turned off the Mail Shield temporarily and as if by magic the Thunderbird web mail login screen appeared and I can login using Thunderbird again.

What I can't work out now is how to add a new exception, presumably for a new certificate, so AVAST doesn't keep blocking the connection. 

[Gondola]

Has your mailbox been limited to webmail only access because Thunderbird or one of your other email connections is still (or was, up to a couple of weeks ago) using insecure settings?