Mailer error persists but settings match and seem correct

I am still getting the Mailer Error: Could not instantiate mail function. message when submitting a basic contact form on a site I am working on.

Steps I have taken so far based on what I have read on the forums:

1) Verified that the Joomla mailing system works correctly. It sends out just fine through Joomla's mass email tool.
2) Checked that the from email and name in global config is the same as in the Chronoforms master config.
3) Both Joomla config and CF config are set to use Sendmail.

I am running Joomla 3.3.6 and a newly installed Chronoforms 5.0.4.

What am I missing here?

I forgot to paste the debug info with the original post. Here it is:

Mailer Error: Could not instantiate mail function.
Your message has been sent.
Data Array
Array
(
    [option] => com_chronoforms5
    [chronoform] => contact_form
    [event] => submit
    [first_name] => Joe
    [last_name] => Smith
    [Company_Name] => http://www.blah.com
    [address] => 616 
    [city] => Altoona
    [state] => IA
    [Zip] => 50009
    [BPhone] => 15159675555
    [email] => test@musicedmagic.com
    [button7] => Submit
    [ip_address] => 173.29.125.201
)
Array
(
)
Errors
Array
(
)
Debug Info
Array
(
    [1] => Array
        (
            [Email] => Array
                (
                    [0] => An email with the details below could NOT be sent:
                    [1] => To:xxxxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com
                    [2] => Subject:Test form submission
                    [3] => From name:Networking Refferal Group
                    [4] => From email:xxxxxxxxxxx@midmnmarketing.com
                    [5] => CC:
                    [6] => BCC:
                    [7] => Reply name:
                    [8] => Reply email:
                    [9] => Attachments:
                    [10] => Body:
<table>
<tr><td>First Name</td><td>Joe</td></tr>
<tr><td>Last Name</td><td>Smith</td></tr>
<tr><td>Company Name</td><td>http://www.blah.com</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mailing Address</td><td>616 </td></tr>
<tr><td>City</td><td>Altoona</td></tr>
<tr><td>State</td><td>IA</td></tr>
</table><br /><br />IP: 173.29.125.201
                )

        )

)

Sorry to bump this but does anyone have any other troubleshooting steps to try? I am still getting the Mailer Error: Could not instantiate mail function even after going through the steps I outlined above...

Hi MaestroC,

I'm sorry, you need Max for this, you appear to have already checked all the things that I would suggest. Please ask him to take a look by posting him a link to this thread in the Contact Us form from the menu above.

Bob

I just went back through and checked again. Verified that all of the fields from the old site are the same as on the new in both the CF configuration page and on the contact form email section. I am sadly still getting the mailer error.

I just checked on the old site and the form there is working. The only difference between the two sites then is that the domain name is slightly different, vanilla.nrg-mn.com vs nrg-mn.com (live site).

I sent Max an email as suggested but have not heard back. Is there anything else I should try?

Hi MaestroC,

Please verify that the "from email" and "to" addresses match those in your Joomla global config.

I would suggest using some email @ your domain as the "From email".

Please ask your host admin if there is anything in the mail logs which may help solving this ?

You may also try to use the PHP mailer or SMTP

Regards,
Max

"Please verify that the "from email" and "to" addresses match those in your Joomla global config."

There is no "to" address in the Joomla global config. Do you mean that the from email and to addresses should be the same as the "From email" in the joomla config?

I would suggest using some email @ your domain as the "From email".

I have done so but the mailer error persists.

Please ask your host admin if there is anything in the mail logs which may help solving this ?

I have received the logs from the host that cover a few instances when I had attempted to submit the forms but I do not see anything in them that is useful. I don't even see anything that looks like an error message related to our account (nrg-mn.com) I have attached the file to this message in case you want to see it.

You may also try to use the PHP mailer or SMTP

We are using PHP mail both on the new CF5 site as well as on the old CF3 site. The only difference between them is that the new site is sitting on an unvalidated subdomain right now (vanilla.nrg-mn.com) while the validated CF3 site is just at nrg-mn.com.

I really need to get this figured out. Any ideas what else to try?

im having the same issue on one of my sites

So the details of the emails sent by Joomla match the details of the email sent by Chronoforms ? by details I mean the To, From email and From name.

Hi there, all of a sudden I am having this problem as well on a site where it used to work fine. This is also on Joomla 3.3.6 and Chronoforms v5. I am using SMTP and the Joomla site with the same SMTP settings is working fine through the Contact us test form I have tested with. Can someone please shed some light on how to fix this? I need this working again asap. Thanks, Adri

Ok, just letting you know that I have fixed this by einstalling the Chronoform v5 Component.🙂

It seems as installing another component after Chronoform had caused this issue. Reinstalling again Chronoform has fixed it.

Regards,
Adri

Ok, I spoke too early! I will try to explain better .....

I have a Joomla 3.3.6 Site with Chonoforms & Chronoconnectivity v5.

The problems are coming from reinstalling either of these Components. If I reinstall Chronoforms, my email confirmations, User and Admin are sent correctly without any error. However reinstalling Chronoforms breaks my Chronoconnectivity list, which shows as a blank white page. This is exactly the same from Front end or from the back end link within Chronoconnectivity, where you can select direct linking to Admin View or Front View. All these link bring up a blank page.

If however I reinstall the Chronoconnectivity component, then all these record list start working perfectly, however the Chronoforms registration emails then start failing with the "Mailer Error: Could not instantiate mail function." errors!

Can someone please advise me on how I can fix these issues? I need both components working well together.

Thanks,
Adri

Hi Adri,

I haven't seen this happen so don't have any clear idea of what is happening,

I have seen Max post elsewhere that you should re-install the latest version of ChronoForms last as this will make sure that the latest files for the GCore library are installed. You should also, of course, make sure that you are using the latest releases of both components.

Bob

Hi Bob,

Yes I had read Max recommendation to always reinstall Chronoforms after installing or reinstalling Cronoconnectivity. Doing this does fix the mailing error in Chronoforms, but unfortunately breaks Chronoconnectivity!😟

And if I reinstall Chronoconnectivity, this fixes it, but then I am back stuck with the mailing error in Chronoforms!😟

At the moment I have left the Chronoconnectivity form not working with a blank page, but I really need to have both components working and I need some advise on how to achieve this.

Please let me know what to do.

Regards,
Adri

Hi Adri,

I have attached a patch file for Connectivity at that topic, it should fix the blank page issue, please let me know if you can't find it.

Regards,
Max

Thank you Max,

Your patch did fix your issue and I now have the two components working!🙂

Thanks again,
Adri

Good morning to all,
I've got the same issue trying to send mail by means of CFv5, Joomla 3.4.x
I set up mail identical configuration from my global server configuration, using SMTP server and SSL security protocol, port 465, smtp server smtp.gmail.com, and so on. Actually mailing from native components of the site work right, but from forms by CFv5 don't. Here below the error mesages I got:

Mailer Error: SMTP connect() failed.

2015-04-04 08:10:32 CLIENT -> SERVER: EHLO www.asdpodisticapomezia.joomlafree.it 2015-04-04 08:10:32 SMTP ERROR: EHLO command failed: 2015-04-04 08:10:32 SMTP NOTICE: EOF caught while checking if connected 2015-04-04 08:10:32 SMTP connect() failed.

It looks like something went wrong with SMTP server connection, but I used EXACTLY the same parameters on the global site config, and there it works. Any suggestions? Thanks a lot in advance

Just to add that I tried to uninstall and reinstall CFv5, same issue.

Hi David,

The latest update has a "Debug" feature under the "Settings" area in Chronoforms, please enable this and add a debugger to your form and post the results.

Regards,
Max

Hi Max, here below the results after enabling SMTP Debugger and dragging a Debugger Action in the form:

        Mailer Error: SMTP connect() failed.

2015-04-04 09:41:04 CLIENT -> SERVER: EHLO www.asdpodisticapomezia.joomlafree.it 2015-04-04 09:41:04 SMTP ERROR: EHLO command failed: 2015-04-04 09:41:04 SMTP NOTICE: EOF caught while checking if connected 2015-04-04 09:41:04 SMTP connect() failed. 

Array
(
    [option] => com_chronoforms5
    [chronoform] => Scrivici
    [event] => submit
    [nome] => davide
    [email] => davidakis@gmail.com
    [oggetto] => prova - test
    [messaggio] => Questo è un messaggio di prova - this is a test message
    [captcha] => 
    [invia] => Invia
    [ip_address] => 93.49.169.91
)

Array
(
)

Errors

Array
(
)

Debug Info

Array
(
    [6] => Array
        (
            [Email] => Array
                (
                    [0] => An email with the details below could NOT be sent:
                    [1] => To:davidakis@gmail.com, podisticapomezia@gmail.com, davidakis@gmail.com
                    [2] => Subject:Nuovo Messaggio
                    [3] => From name:ASD Podistica Pomezia - Segreteria
                    [4] => From email:podisticapomezia@gmail.com
                    [5] => CC:
                    [6] => BCC:
                    [7] => Reply name:
                    [8] => Reply email:
                    [9] => Attachments:
                    [10] => Array
                        (
                        )

                    [11] => Body:
C'è un nuovo messaggio nella posta, eccone il contenuto:<br /> <br />

<b>Oggetto</b>: prova - test <br /> <br />

<b>e-mail per risposte</b>: davidakis@gmail.com <br /> <br />

<b>Testo</b>: Questo è un messaggio di prova - this is a test message <br /> <br /><br /><br />IP: 93.49.169.91
                )

        )

)

Thanks for support

Hi David,

Max asked about the Debugger on the Settings tab - that will show specific Email Server debug messages.

I think that if you are using the same mail server as on the Joomla! General settings then you can leave the ChronoForms settings empty and CF will use the Joomla! settings. You only need the CF settings to use a different mailer.

Bob

Same issue leaving CF settings empty (I set up only SMTP), here below the Debugger results:

Mailer Error: SMTP connect() failed.

Array
(
[option] => com_chronoforms5
[chronoform] => Scrivici
[event] => submit
[nome] => Davide
[email] => davidakis@gmail.com
[oggetto] => prova
[messaggio] => prova
[captcha] =>
[invia] => Invia
[ip_address] => 93.49.169.91
)

Array
(
)

Errors

Array
(
)

Debug Info

Array
(
[6] => Array
(
[Email] => Array
(
[0] => An email with the details below could NOT be sent:
[1] => To:davidakis@gmail.com, podisticapomezia@gmail.com, davidakis@gmail.com
[2] => Subject:Nuovo Messaggio
[3] => From name:ASD Podistica Pomezia - Segreteria
[4] => From email:podisticapomezia@gmail.com
[5] => CC:
[6] => BCC:
[7] => Reply name:
[8] => Reply email:
[9] => Attachments:
[10] => Array
(
)

[11] => Body:
C'è un nuovo messaggio nella posta, eccone il contenuto:<br /> <br />

<b>Oggetto</b>: prova <br /> <br />

<b>e-mail per risposte</b>: davidakis@gmail.com <br /> <br />

<b>Testo</b>: prova <br /> <br /><br /><br />IP: 93.49.169.91
)

)

)

Similar issue trying to configure 'SENDMAIL':

Mailer Error: Could not execute: /usr/sbin/sendmail -t -i

and this one is the result by setting 'PHP Mailer':

Mailer Error: Could not instantiate mail function.

Hi David,

I mean when you go to Chronoform5 in admin area then click "Settings", now set the "SMTP Debug" to 3 or 4, save then test again.

The debug info can be helpful for your host admin to check the problem, you may also ask them to enable the "php mail" function and use that instead.

Regards,
Max

Hi Max,
here below the results setting the 'SMTP Debug' to 4:

        Mailer Error: SMTP connect() failed.

2015-04-04 14:52:32 Connection: opening to smtp.gmail.com:465, t=10, opt=array ( ) 
2015-04-04 14:52:33 Connection: opened 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 SMTP -> get_lines(): $data was "" 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "" 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "" 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 SMTP -> get_lines(): timed-out (10 sec) 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 SERVER -> CLIENT: 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 CLIENT -> SERVER: EHLO www.asdpodisticapomezia.joomlafree.it 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 SMTP -> get_lines(): $data was "" 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "" 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "" 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 SERVER -> CLIENT: 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 SMTP ERROR: EHLO command failed: 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 SMTP NOTICE: EOF caught while checking if connected 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 Connection: closed 
2015-04-04 14:52:43 SMTP connect() failed. 

And then below, the other debugger results:

Data Array

Array
(
    [option] => com_chronoforms5
    [chronoform] => Scrivici
    [event] => submit
    [nome] => davide
    [email] => davidakis@gmail.com
    [oggetto] => test
    [messaggio] => this is a test message
    [captcha] => 
    [invia] => Invia
    [ip_address] => 93.47.229.224
)

Array
(
)

Errors

Array
(
)

Debug Info

Array
(
    [6] => Array
        (
            [Email] => Array
                (
                    [0] => An email with the details below could NOT be sent:
                    [1] => To:davidakis@gmail.com, podisticapomezia@gmail.com, davidakis@gmail.com
                    [2] => Subject:Nuovo Messaggio
                    [3] => From name:ASD Podistica Pomezia - Segreteria
                    [4] => From email:podisticapomezia@gmail.com
                    [5] => CC:
                    [6] => BCC:
                    [7] => Reply name:
                    [8] => Reply email:
                    [9] => Attachments:
                    [10] => Array
                        (
                        )

                    [11] => Body:
C'è un nuovo messaggio nella posta, eccone il contenuto:<br /> <br />

<b>Oggetto</b>: test <br /> <br />

<b>e-mail per risposte</b>: davidakis@gmail.com <br /> <br />

<b>Testo</b>: this is a test message <br /> <br /><br /><br />IP: 93.47.229.224
                )

        )

)

Thanks again
Davide

Hi Davide,

Just found this helpful post online:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21937586/phpmailer-smtp-error-password-command-failed-when-send-mail-from-my-server

I hope that helps!

Regards,
Max

Hi Max,
I read that post, but unfortunately mailer error still persists. Actually I'm quite sure it is caused by gmail security settings, also if I didn't succeed in sending a message even after modifying that. I think I'll try to contact gmail team to ask them, or try to change mail server as well, then I'll let you know if at last it works.

Thanks a lot,
Davide

Ok, please try that and let us know!

Regards,
Max