SMTP: Err Msg: ERROR Translating Message to SMTP...

 Last reviewed: October 20, 1997
Article ID: Q98159
3.00 MS-DOS kb3rdparty kbtlc

The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Mail Gateway to SMTP, version 3.0

SYMPTOMS

After the Microsoft Mail Gateway to SMTP starts and initializes, it checks for outgoing mail from the SMTP outgoing queue. If it detects outgoing mail, it opens a session with the smarthost and begins to process the outgoing messages.

If the gateway comes to a message in the queue that it cannot process, this error message may occur: 

   ERROR translating message to SMTP: protocol error

CAUSE

This error can result from a damaged message in the SMTP gateway queue. When there is a damaged message in the queue, the gateway stops processing the outgoing messages and switches to the idle state waiting for TCP/IP connections. It then repeats the same process during its next scheduled connection attempt time.

RESOLUTION

The problem message in the SMTP queue should either be deleted or returned to the sender. You may want to first rename the temporary files used by the SMTP gateway that are found in the MAILDATA\SMTP directory. Any file with extension .API in the SMTP directory should be changed to an extension of .OLD with the following command: 

   ren *.api *.old
Deleting or returning of messages is done from within the ADMIN.EXE program:

  1. Start ADMIN.EXE with an account that has Admin privileges.

  2. From the Admin menu, choose Queue.

  3. In the dialog box, type SMTP and press the ENTER key.

  4. Return the problem message (probably the first or last message in the SMTP queue).

  5. The user who sent the message needs to resend the returned message or be notified that it was deleted.

NOTE: If there is a file called FROM_NC.API or OUTBAD.API in the SMTP directory of the Mail Postoffice, you can view this file and decipher who the sender of the problem message is. The sender's name is preceded with a FROM: and contains the full 10/10/10 Microsoft Mail address. Once you have this information, you follow the steps above to remove the message from the SMTP outgoing queue. It is suggested to use Debug since many MS-DOS editors show the file as one big line of text.

Example

Assume there is a file stranded in the M:\MAILDATA\SMTP directory called OUTBAD.API. Use the following steps to find the sender of the problem message:

  1. Type the following: 

          DEBUG M:\MAILDATA\SMTP\OUTBAD.API

  2. At the hyphen (-) prompt, type the letter "D" (without the quotation marks) and press the ENTER key.

  3. A mix of HEX values and ASCII text is displayed on the screen, repeatedly press D, ENTER until the word FROM: shows up in the ASCII column.

  4. Note the information following the FROM: because this is the sender of the problem message.

    NOTE: There may be multiple messages in the .API file, where each one has its own FROM: information. If the old .API files are renamed prior to the startup of the gateway as mentioned above, a new file containing only the problem message should be created.

  5. Use this name when following the steps above to return or delete the message out of the SMTP queue.

NOTE: The "protocol error" message can be a vague error message and may refer to a number of other issues. The resolution in this article has been proven to work in many situations where this error occurred.

Additional reference words: 3.00
KBCategory: kb3rdparty kbtlc
KBSubcategory: MailGWSMTP

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Last reviewed: October 20, 1997
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