[Techtalk] 501 syntactically invalid HELO argument(s)

[Dushyanth Harinath]

Hi , 

 * <paul at milltech.co.za> wrote from a remote bunker :
> Good Morning
>  
> I am running an e-smith SME 5 server using qmail. I am getting the
> following error trying to send mail to aol.com
>  
> Connected to 66.8.86.4 but my name was rejected.
> >Remote host said: 501 syntactically invalid HELO argument(s) I'm not 
> >going to try again; this message has been in the queue too long.

http://x42.com/qmail/error/common/

The above link will tell you what common errors in qmail means.

> The /control/me and helohost files have entries to say which domain the
> mail is coming from. I am at a loss at this point. I have spoken to the
> e-smith discussion forum and have had no reply regarding this problem.
> If you have any suggestions they would be most welcomed at this point.

Most probably you dont have reverse lookups configured and e-smith
server is blocking mails because of that. Some mail servers usally do
this to prevent SPAM but end up blocking legitimate mails too.

HTH
cheers
dushyanth
-- 
The fact that windows is one of the most popular ways to operate
a computer means that evolution has made a general fuckup and 
our race is doomed.

http://symonds.net/~dushy