Why PhpMailer failes on some machines? - php

Question

I'm using PHPMailer to send emails. My problem is that from my PC everything works just fine, but on other devices, like someone else laptop or PC gives the following error:
SMTP Error: Could not authenticate. Mailer Error: SMTP Error: Could not authenticate.The following From address failed: confidential#confidential.com Mailer Error: The following From address failed: confidential#confidential.com
SMTP server error: AUTH command used when not advertised
Can someone give some light on this one please?!
My code:
$mail = new PHPMailer(); // defaults to using php "mail()"
$body = stripslashes($_POST['textarea']);
$body = str_replace(' ',' ',$body);
$body = str_replace('/media/','http://www.confidential.com/media/', $body);
$body = $body;
//$body = eregi_replace("[\]",'',$body);
$mail->From = "confidential#confidential.com";
$mail->FromName = "confidential confidential";
$mail->CharSet = 'UTF-8';
$mail->Subject = $_POST['subject'];
//$mail->IsSMTP(); // telling the class to use SMTP
//$mail->Host = "confidential.com"; // SMTP server
//$mail->SMTPAuth = false; // enable SMTP authentication
//$mail->Port = 25; // set the SMTP port for the GMAIL server
//$mail->Username = "confidential#confidential.com"; // SMTP account username
//$mail->Password = "confidential"; // SMTP account password
$mail->SetFrom('confidential#confidential.com', 'confidential confidential');
$mail->AddReplyTo("confidential#confidential.com","confidential confidential");
//$mail->SMTPDebug = 1;
Furthermore, when I use SMTP authentication I have these next errors, on every device:
SMTP Error: Could not authenticate. Mailer Error: SMTP Error: Could not authenticate.SMTP Error: The following recipients failed: someemail#test.com Mailer Error: SMTP Error: The following recipients failed: someemail#test.com
SMTP server error: Authentication failed
UPDATE:
Full errors resulted:
SMTP -> FROM SERVER:220-sclabo15.ds.systemsunit.com ESMTP Exim 4.86_1 #1 Wed, 16 Mar 2016 13:10:25 +0200 220-We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited, 220 and/or bulk e-mail.
SMTP -> FROM SERVER: 250-sclabo15.ds.systemsunit.com Hello confidential.com [176.223.213.66] 250-SIZE 52428800 250-8BITMIME 250-PIPELINING 250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN 250-STARTTLS 250 HELP
SMTP -> ERROR: Password not accepted from server: 535 Incorrect authentication data
SMTP -> FROM SERVER:250 Reset OK
SMTP Error: Could not authenticate. Mailer Error: SMTP Error: Could not authenticate.SMTP -> FROM SERVER:250 OK
SMTP -> FROM SERVER:550 Authentication failed
SMTP -> ERROR: RCPT not accepted from server: 550 Authentication failed
SMTP Error: The following recipients failed: confidential#confidential.com Mailer Error: SMTP Error: The following recipients failed: confidential#confidential.com
SMTP server error: Authentication failed

Answer 1

does the password use any non-ASCII characters? – Martin #Martin,
if '#' is non ASCII, then yes. - Anonymous
Your issue may be that your password contains the # character. This character is a bit of a pain as it doesn't quite fit as being "safe" but is often not actually removed or cleaned by many cleaning functions. It is a URL address special character and has repeatedly come up as being a cause for similar SMTP errors:
https://sourceforge.net/p/davmail/bugs/539/
https://meta.discourse.org/t/bug-smtp-password-field-does-not-escape-comment-sign-hash/23344/6
Also check your string encoding for the username and password strings. Your reference to $mail->CharSet = 'UTF-8'; might be causing the PHPMailer to encode the password for the SMTP (I'm not sure though).
http://www.easy-smtp.com/smtp-troubleshooting-guide
There are also various other knock on events such as you will be blocked from the server for to many failed authentication attempts. Frustrating, but needs to be noted.
http://www.fehcom.de/qmail/smtpauth.html
http://www.samlogic.net/articles/smtp-commands-reference-auth.htm
Solution:
Debug and change your password to not contain the # character and see if that improves your situation. But please note your potential for being blocked for too many false logins and you'd need to wait some time for a clear connection to te SMTP server again.

Answer 2

$mail->SMTPDebug = 2; enables SMTP debug information (for testing)