MTG: MTA Error: Mailbag Truncated by Up_retries

ID: Q170628

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Mail for PC Networks, version 3.5

SYMPTOMS

Mail delivery fails and the Session.log of External shows similar entries:

A Critical error has occurred
Data: Error Code~0c, Device Error _14
Mailbag truncated by up_retries
Mail transfer failed.

CAUSE

There is a problem accessing the postoffice because External has failed to read from disk possibly because of a network connection problem. The error "mailbag truncated by up_retries" means External had a problem at the time it was processing mail in the referenced mailbag. These errors together suggest a failure in the network connection.

RESOLUTION

A network trace may be necessary to pinpoint the connection failure. There is a short-term workaround that works with the MS-DOS MTA only. A setting in the External.ini will allow External to restart when it encounters a critcal error. The setting is:

ReBootOnce

This is not a fix but can be used as a workaround until the cause of the problem can be determined and resolved.

MORE INFORMATION

External will return an error generated by Interrupt 24h in MS-DOS (Critical-Error Handler).

The "device error = c" means "general failure". Here is the list of other possible values:


   code  meaning
   ----  -----------------------------------
   00h   write-protected disk
   01h   unknown unit
   02h   drive not ready
   03h   invalid command
   04h   data error (CRC)
   05h   bad request structure length
   06h   seek error
   07h   non-DOS disk
   08h   sector not found
   09h   printer out of paper
   0ah   write fault
   0bh   read fault
   0ch   general failure
   0fh   invalid disk change (dos 3 & later)

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbusage
Version : WINDOWS:3.5
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb