[Dovecot] dovecot dead

[John and Catherine Allen]

Allen Sim wrote:
> Hi,
> I am a new linux user.I jz setting up a mail server.Downloaded &
> Configured the components:CentOS,OpenLDAP,pam,dovecotMailServer,s
> endmial,squireelmail etc....
> But wehn i want to check whether it works or not, so i open up my
> clientmail, wchi is Netscape 7.2. in Edit > Mail & Newsgroups Account
> Setting > server setting... i had put the ip address for the
> machine... but error pop out: Could not connect to mail server
> 10.XX.XX.XXX;the connection was refused. what's wrong wth it???
>
> how to check wthere the mail server work?
>
> my second question.
> Dovecot dead but subsys locked
>
> aft i typed: /etc/init.d/dovecot status,
> it shows:dovecot dead but subsys locked.
> I deleted /var/lock/subsys/dovecot. but whn i start my
> dovecot,etc/init.d/dovecot start, same problem occur again....how to
> solve ths???
> below is frm /var/log/maillog :
> Mar 19 15:17:28 hosting sendmail[3617]: m2J1EtMP003319:
> to=<root at localhost.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root at localhost.localdomain>
> (0/0), delay=06:02:32, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=local, pri=665894,
> dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: local mailer (/usr/libexec/dovecot/deliver)
> exited with EX_TEMPFAIL
>
> i am new in this. anyone can help??? appreciate ur reply....
>   
Some small suggestions/questions to get started on understanding the 
problem:

1) what are the names and IP addresses of the computers involved, ie the 
server and other(s) where the mail client is running?

2) output of dovecot -n to see the actual dovecot configuration.

3) it might be easier to use Thunderbird as the mail client. More people 
(including me) are familiar with its IMAP configuration options, so it's 
easier to explain things.

4) are you sending/receiving email through an ISP?

John Allen