> I sent a msg from my hotmail account to my mercury account. They
> arrived ok, but a reply back doesnt work. After my initial post I tried
> some other accounts ( like my work) and noticed they all are resolving
> to 205.178.187.13. this mean I have some kind of DNS issue I assume.

Not necessarily, but in this case it looks like it's not resolving correctly

hotmail.com, MX, 5, mx4.hotmail.com
hotmail.com, MX, 5, mx1.hotmail.com
hotmail.com, MX, 5, mx2.hotmail.com
hotmail.com, MX, 5, mx3.hotmail.com

    mx1.hotmail.com, A, 65.54.244.136
    mx1.hotmail.com, A, 65.54.245.8
    mx1.hotmail.com, A, 65.54.244.8
    mx2.hotmail.com, A, 65.54.244.40
    mx2.hotmail.com, A, 65.54.244.168
    mx2.hotmail.com, A, 65.54.245.40
    mx3.hotmail.com, A, 65.54.244.72
    mx3.hotmail.com, A, 65.54.244.200
    mx3.hotmail.com, A, 65.54.245.72
    mx4.hotmail.com, A, 65.54.244.232
    mx4.hotmail.com, A, 65.54.245.104
    mx4.hotmail.com, A, 65.54.244.104

Are you sure you are pointing to the DNS hosts in MercuryE?


>
> 18:53:08: processing job MO000017
> Resolved CN for 'hotmail.com' to 205.178.187.13

This IP address give a rDNS of www.networksolutions.com


> Connecting to 205.178.187.13
> Connection error.
>
> 19:11:48: processing job MO00001D
> Resolved CN for '<deleted domain>.com' to 205.178.187.13
> Connecting to 205.178.187.13
> Connection error.
>

I am running Vista ultimate. Incoming mail works fine.

Outgoing mail, the display shows resolved to CN xxx.xxx.xx.xxx But then the conncetion fails.
Thought it might be my local ISP's DNS, so I pointed to Network Solutions DNS servers. Still the same thing.
Shouldn't I Be resolving to MX entries?

[quote user="bobcary"]

I am running Vista ultimate. Incoming mail works fine.

Outgoing mail, the display shows resolved to CN xxx.xxx.xx.xxx But then the conncetion fails.
Thought it might be my local ISP's DNS, so I pointed to Network Solutions DNS servers. Still the same thing.
Shouldn't I Be resolving to MX entries?

[/quote]

Sure, if the MX entries are valid.  Could you provide some specifics  for analysis?

I sent a msg from my hotmail account to my mercury account. They arrived ok, but a reply back doesnt work. After my initial post I tried some other accounts ( like my work) and noticed they all are resolving to 205.178.187.13. this mean I have some kind of DNS issue I assume.

18:53:08: processing job MO000017
Resolved CN for 'hotmail.com' to 205.178.187.13
Connecting to 205.178.187.13
Connection error.

19:11:48: processing job MO00001D
Resolved CN for '<deleted domain>.com' to 205.178.187.13
Connecting to 205.178.187.13
Connection error.