Sounds like the MercuryX bug as per this thread http://community.pmail.com/forums/thread/22605.aspx Disable the MercuryX module.

<P>Hi. Iam a newbie of using this mercury mail 4.72 but I already used the older versions that can't be installed as a native windows service. Iam using the mercury mail with the xampp for windows 1.7.3.</P> <P>Now I have this weird problem. I set my mercury mail to be a windows service which is it automatically runs before I log in the computer. Then when I check at the expected ports that will the mercury mail will listen(smtp 25 and pop3 110 port), it was free and when I look at the mercury interface the smtp server/client and the pop3 are offline. Is this normal? Because as far as I know it goes to be "ready" when the mercury mail starts but in my case it seems to be offline. I have no other applications in background that uses the ports for smtp ant pop3 because when I check it on the xampp's port checker its' totally free. Is there any control in the mercury interface that I will enable and set to be "ready" the smpt client/server and pop3?</P> <P>Im running in windows xp sp3 and with IIS 5 but I had changed the ports for the smpt and pop3 of my IIS. I already tested to turn off the IIS before I run the mercury but it is still the same, the smpt and pop3 are offline</P> <P>Thank you.</P>