Thunderbird intermittently fails to send an email

[PrafullaT]

Binary package hint: thunderbird

I am not able to send an email using thunderbird. Server is on the LAN itself.
It does say that it is connected to SMTP server but then it fails to send an email
Note that the problem is only with sending mails. I can fetch emails without any
difficulty. Evolution is working fine with the same smtp server
I can provide more help regarding this, Let me know.
Thanks.

My thunderbird version : version 2.0.0.21 (20090318)
Ubuntu : 8.10

[PrafullaT (prafulla-t)]

Note that this problem happens intermittently. Sometime it does send an email
sometime it does not.

[PrafullaT (prafulla-t)]

I built thuderbird on my machine to debug this problem
Here is the stack trace when I am trying to send the email.
Somehow, thunderbird is not able to make connection with my
(Note that this happens intermittently)
SMTP server, but when I ping/telnet/ssh my mail server, it works.
I will be glad if someone helps me here.

Stack trace:
(gdb) bt
#0 0xb7f27430 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1 0xb6e80167 in poll () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6
#2 0xb7492c52 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
#3 0xb7492f81 in g_main_context_iteration () from /usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
#4 0x084705ad in nsAppShell::ProcessNextNativeEvent (this=0xb67a41f0, mayWait=1) at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/widget/src/gtk2/nsAppShell.cpp:144
#5 0x0843f079 in nsBaseAppShell::DoProcessNextNativeEvent (this=0xb67a41f0, mayWait=1)
    at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/widget/src/xpwidgets/nsBaseAppShell.cpp:151
#6 0x0843f527 in nsBaseAppShell::OnProcessNextEvent (this=0xb67a41f0, thr=0xb6891880, mayWait=1, recursionDepth=0)
    at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/widget/src/xpwidgets/nsBaseAppShell.cpp:296
#7 0xb7ca98a7 in ?? ()
#8 0xb7c35940 in ?? ()
#9 0x0843f740 in nsBaseAppShell::Run (this=0xb67a41f0) at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/widget/src/xpwidgets/nsBaseAppShell.cpp:170
#10 0x08ebe25b in nsAppStartup::Run (this=0xb67fa5b0) at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/toolkit/components/startup/src/nsAppStartup.cpp:192
#11 0x08084d0a in XRE_main (argc=1, argv=0xbf826ea4, aAppData=0xb6806580) at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/toolkit/xre/nsAppRunner.cpp:3279
#12 0x0807bf62 in main (argc=1, argv=0xbf826ea4) at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mail/app/nsMailApp.cpp:103
(gdb) thread apply bt all
(gdb) thread apply all bt

Thread 11 (Thread 0xb42ffb90 (LWP 1589)):
#0 0xb7f27430 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1 0xb7eed3a2 in pthread_cond_timedwait@@GLIBC_2.3.2 () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0
#2 0xb7be2fbe in ?? ()
#3 0xb7be3de0 in ?? ()
#4 0xb7be3ed7 in ?? ()
#5 0x081ebb53 in nsAutoMonitor::Wait (this=0xb42ff1d8, interval=60000) at ../../../mozilla/dist/include/xpcom/nsAutoLock.h:340
#6 0xb7cadf96 in ?? ()
#7 0xb7ca99a9 in ?? ()
#8 0xb7c35940 in ?? ()
#9 0xb7caa451 in ?? ()
#10 0xb7bea1a1 in ?? ()
#11 0xb7ee950f in start_thread () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0
#12 0xb6e8aa0e in clone () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6

Thread 10 (Thread 0xb5effb90 (LWP 1346)):
#0 0xb7f27430 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1 0xb6e80167 in poll () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6
#2 0xb7be5d84 in ?? ()
#3 0x08131f7a in nsSocketTransportService::Poll (this=0xb6837000, wait=1, interval=0xb5eff0ec)
    at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.cpp:355
#4 0x081326c3 in nsSocketTransportService::DoPollIteration (this=0xb6837000, wait=1)
    at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.cpp:660
#5 0x081329c1 in nsSocketTransportService::OnProcessNextEvent (this=0xb6837000, thread=0xb68fcc40, mayWait=1, depth=1)
    at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.cpp:539
#6 0xb7ca98a7 in ?? ()
#7 0xb7c35940 in ?? ()
#8 0x08132234 in nsSocketTransportService::Run (this=0xb6837000) at /opt/firefox/commsrc...

[PrafullaT (prafulla-t)]

I copied wrong stack trace.
Here is the correct one :

(gdb) thread apply all bt

Thread 11 (Thread 0xb42ffb90 (LWP 1589)):
#0 0xb7f27430 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1 0xb7eed3a2 in pthread_cond_timedwait@@GLIBC_2.3.2 () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0
#2 0xb7be2fbe in ?? ()
#3 0xb7be3de0 in ?? ()
#4 0xb7be3ed7 in ?? ()
#5 0x081ebb53 in nsAutoMonitor::Wait (this=0xb42ff1d8, interval=60000) at ../../../mozilla/dist/include/xpcom/nsAutoLock.h:340
#6 0xb7cadf96 in ?? ()
#7 0xb7ca99a9 in ?? ()
#8 0xb7c35940 in ?? ()
#9 0xb7caa451 in ?? ()
#10 0xb7bea1a1 in ?? ()
#11 0xb7ee950f in start_thread () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0
#12 0xb6e8aa0e in clone () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6

Thread 10 (Thread 0xb5effb90 (LWP 1346)):
#0 0xb7f27430 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1 0xb6e80167 in poll () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6
#2 0xb7be5d84 in ?? ()
#3 0x08131f7a in nsSocketTransportService::Poll (this=0xb6837000, wait=1, interval=0xb5eff0ec)
    at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.cpp:355
#4 0x081326c3 in nsSocketTransportService::DoPollIteration (this=0xb6837000, wait=1)
    at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.cpp:660
#5 0x081329c1 in nsSocketTransportService::OnProcessNextEvent (this=0xb6837000, thread=0xb68fcc40, mayWait=1, depth=1)
    at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.cpp:539
#6 0xb7ca98a7 in ?? ()
#7 0xb7c35940 in ?? ()
#8 0x08132234 in nsSocketTransportService::Run (this=0xb6837000) at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.cpp:581
#9 0xb7ca99a9 in ?? ()
#10 0xb7c35940 in ?? ()
#11 0xb7caa451 in ?? ()
#12 0xb7bea1a1 in ?? ()
#13 0xb7ee950f in start_thread () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0
#14 0xb6e8aa0e in clone () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6

Thread 9 (Thread 0xb56feb90 (LWP 1347)):
#0 0xb7f27430 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1 0xb7eed3a2 in pthread_cond_timedwait@@GLIBC_2.3.2 () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0
#2 0xb7be2fbe in ?? ()
#3 0xb7be3de0 in ?? ()
#4 0x08251e7e in XPCJSRuntime::WatchdogMain (arg=0xb6863500) at /opt/firefox/commsrc/mozilla/js/src/xpconnect/src/xpcjsruntime.cpp:824
#5 0xb7bea1a1 in ?? ()
#6 0xb7ee950f in start_thread () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0
#7 0xb6e8aa0e in clone () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6

Thread 8 (Thread 0xb4cffb90 (LWP 1348)):
#0 0xb7f27430 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1 0xb7eed3a2 in pthread_cond_timedwait@@GLIBC_2.3.2 () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0
#2 0xb7be2fbe in ?? ()
---Type <return> to continue, or q <return> to quit---
#3 0xb7be3de0 in ?? ()
#4 0xb7cb29cc in ?? ()
#5 0xb7ca99a9 in ?? ()
#6 0xb7c35940 in ?? ()
#7 0xb7caa451 in ?? ()
#8 0xb7bea1a1 in ?? ()
#9 0xb7ee950f in start_thread () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0
#10 0xb6e8aa0e in clone () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6

Thread 6 (Thread 0xb35ffb90 (LWP 1351)):
#0 0xb7f27430 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1 0xb7eed075 in pthread_cond_wait@@GLIBC_2.3.2 () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0
#2 0xb7be3e57 in ?? ()
#3 0xb7be3ed7 in ?? ()
#4 0x081ebb53 in nsAutoMonitor::Wait (this=0xb35f...

[PrafullaT (prafulla-t)]

Hi All,
It was not problem with thunderbird, although I would have loved
thunderbird to notify me about the problem.
Here is what was going wrong.
Our DNS server had different names associated with my MAC address.
And pings to only one of them used to work. Everytime I issued
"nslookup my_ip_addr" I got the name in different order, so I guess,
It used to work when a correct name appeared as first entry.
I have asked SysAd people to fix DNS entries issue and it is now working
fine :-)

[PrafullaT (prafulla-t)]

Identified as a problem with my DNS server.
Not a thunderbird problem.