It appears that the mailserver you are telnetting to is not configured as an open relay, or is configured to reject any session that does not originate from an approved list of client software.

Cody when you say "from an approved list of client software"  Could you be more specific?  I am not sure what you mean.  Also the mail server or rather the webpage about the mailserver says that anyone can use it to send emial via telnet.   Could my problem be a result of too many people accessing the mail server?

I am running Windows XP Professional on my Dell Dimension 4600 and have
just recently exprienced some trouble with my telnet and ftp.

Both these programs worked perfectly before and have only just recently
started to play up on me.

The problem is that:

1) I cannot access ftp web sites and can not download files via ftp. 

 -it comes up with a message that it cannot open page.

2) and I cannot use telnet to connect to remote PCs (which I need for my uni).

 - it comes up with a message: press any key to continue and when I do it says
connection to host lost or sometimes it just disapears.

 I have called Dell technical support and they could not help me.

 I have already 
 - repaired Windows
 - re-installed Windows
 - re-formated my PC and installed Windows again
 - installed other telnet and ftp programs
 
However none of these have fixed the problem.

This is a strange problem, since my internet connection works fine and I can use html
with out any troubles.

Im pretty sure that this is not a hardware issue since I can connect to the
internet fine and can surf the web and check emails fine.

It also cannot be a virus since reformating and reinstalling has accomplished nothing.

Can anyone help me in regards to this problem???

Mr Black me and you have the same problem. Every time I try to use telnet to send email I get the same message. "Strike Any Key to Continue"  When I do this I also get the "connection to host lost"  message.  Mr Black let me know if you have any luck figuring this out!!  Thanks

Yes. I thought you did. Thats why I posted my message as a reply to yours.

Well... I've been trying to find a solution to this problem for about two weeks now, and with no luck.

As I mentioned before, I have tried nearly all that I can do, but nothing seems to work! And I dont want to play around with any settings which I dont understand, because I might create more problems.

Its a weired problem and I wonder whether any others have the same issue?

I have spoken to technical support multiple times with no success. I have also emailed DELL and no proper or usefull suggestions were given.

I am excpecting a phone call from an IT Technician on Monday (Tommorow). If I find the solution I will definetly post it to you.

 

The problem is that:

1) I cannot access ftp web sites and can not download files via ftp.

-it comes up with a message that it cannot open page.

2) and I cannot use telnet to connect to remote PCs (which I need for my uni).

- it comes up with a message: press any key to continue and when I do it says
connection to host lost or sometimes it just disapears.

Regarding the FTP problem - have you set "Use Passive FTP" under IE's Tools/Internet Options/Advanced/Browsing? If you're connected to the Internet through a router, you'll need that.

A telnet connection is straightforward compared to an FTP connection. It sounds like something's blocking TCP port 23. The telnet client initiates a connection to TCP port 23 on the machine running a telnet server, and negotiates some options. After that, the "login" prompt should appear in the telnet window. If the connection is closing immediately, there should be some log entries on the server left behind. Perhaps incoming telnet connections are blocked from the IP address or network you're connecting from. Someone should review the logs on the machine running the telnet server and see if the problem is being logged.

Jim

Im not using a router. And I have already tried the passive ftp option.

As for Telnet, it was working fine before and the sever which I connect to has no problems from other machines, it only has this problem from my PC.

???

As for Telnet, it was working fine before...

Was there something that changed that caused Telnet to stop working?

The fact that you have no router means that the machine's IP address should be the one used to make Telnet and FTP connections. Is it possible that your ISP is blocking outbound Telnet connections?

Are you able to take a look at the logs on the Telnet server and see if the connection is ever getting there?

Jim

Are you able to take a look at the logs on the Telnet server and see if the connection is ever getting there?

What can you do if you are not able to look at the log?  I have the same problem as Mr Black. 

Your problem's actually slightly different. He's trying to use the "telnet" protocol (TCP/23), and you're trying to use the "SMTP" (TCP/25) protocol. What they have in common is use of a "telnet" client, and the fact that neither is working.

If you try to deliver EMAIL to the same SMTP server using a mail client like Outlook Express, does that work?

The reason I'd asked about logs from the server was to see whether the connection ever reached the telnet server. If your ISP is small enough, they might be willing to check their mail server logs and see if your connection ever got there.

A much more technical approach would be for you to install a network sniffer like Ethereal, and set it up to monitor traffic going to and from the SMTP server you're trying to connect to. That requires detailed knowledge of the TCP/IP protocol to interpret the output. My hunch is that you'd find that the SMTP server is abruptly closing the connection. That's based on the fact that you said the connection terminates almost immediately. If you or someone you know is familiar enough with the way TCP/IP works, you might want to try looking at the traffic with Ethereal.

Jim