Will not send email.. driving me insane. Please help

[kroleig1]

Hi

I have been trying without luck to get email sent to me via a form.
Forgive me, I'm new to php so still learning.

I am using:
Apache 2.2.8
PHP 5.2.5
MySQL 5.0
Same setup running on both a windows xp pro and one on a vista home premium.

---

This is the scenario:

1. I created a basic contact form
2. The form does some data validation and uses the mail() function to send
   a simple plain text email.
3. There is no errors and the script validates and runs fine on a live server(its online at dynaweave.com/contact.php
   It works and sends email to both me and the user in the live environment. So I am pretty sure that my script is ok..
4. The exact same code works on my xp machine.. and sends the email fine

Problem:

It wont work on my vista machine. No errors, no error log for apache or php. I set error reporting to highest and nothing.
I even checked and tested my smtp server (smtp.comcast.net) and updated my php.ini file to reflect the smtp server as well as the default send to address.

What bugs me is that I have even tried running phpmailer and set it up. It also gives no errors and says the mail has been sent but nothing... I tried various email address that I know works. Nothing...

Lastly tried plugging the vista laptop hard wired into the router thinking that maybe my network card was funky.. still no change.

The worst thing is... It was working just last week with no issues.. but I cant go back and do restore because it wont go back far enough to make a difference. I have tried restoring several times with no luck..

Can someone please help me with some ideas as to why this is happening?

Here is my contact page code:

<?php
//Check if the form has been submitted
if(isset($_POST['submitted'])) {
$dynamail = "[e-mail]";
$from = "[e-mail]";
$subject = "Thank you for your request";
$errors = array(); //Initialize the error array

		//Check for name

		if(!isset($_POST['name']) || empty($_POST['name'])){
			$errors[] = 'You forgot to enter your name';
		} else {
			$name = mysql_prep($_POST['name']);
			$name = ucwords($name);

		}

		//Double check for empty email address fields
		if(empty($_POST['email']) && empty($_POST['email2'])){
			$errors[] = 'You forgot to enter your email address';
		}

		//Check for a match between 1st and 2nd email
		if(!empty($_POST['email']) && !empty($_POST['email2'])) {
			if($_POST['email'] != $_POST['email2']) {
				$errors[] = 'Your email address did not match the confirmed email address';
			} else {
				$email = $_POST['email'];
			}	  
		} //End of "if(!empty($_POST['email'])) {"

		//Validate the email
		if (validateEmail($email)) {
			$email = $_POST['email'];
		} else {
			$errors[] = 'The email address you entered is not valid';
		}

		//Check for phone number and assign it to a variable
		//Declare short
		$phone_area = $_POST['phone_area'];
		$phone2		= $_POST['phone2'];
		$phone3		= $_POST['phone3'];

		 //Check if isset and send through mysql_prep function. 
		 //Also you need to concatenate the three fields and compile the phone number.
		 if(isset($phone_area) && isset($phone2) && isset($phone3)) {
		 	$phone = "{$phone_area}-{$phone2}-{$phone3}";
			$phone = mysql_prep($phone);
		 } else {
		 	$phone = NULL;
		 }

		 //Check if best time to call variable isset
		 //Declare short
		 $best_time = $_POST['best_time'];
		 if(isset($best_time)) {
		 	$best_time = mysql_prep($best_time);
		 }

		 //Check and assign reason for contact
		 //Declare short
		 $reason = $_POST['reason_for_contact'];
		 if(isset($best_time)) {
		 	$reason = mysql_prep($reason);
		 }

		//Check whether this is a new business or not and store a message reminder and link
		if(isset($_POST['newbiz']) == 'new') {
			   $newbiz = $_POST['newbiz'];
			   $reminder = 
			   '<p class="thankyou">Congratulations on your new business! <br />	
				Remember that you 
				can get HUGE savings on our generous discounts for <em>new businesses.</em>
				<a href="pricing_disc.php">Click here</a> to find out more about our start-up 	
				plan!</p>';
		} 

		//Check for a request/comment
		//Decare short
		$user_request = $_POST['user_request'];
		if(empty($_POST['user_request'])){
			$errors[] = 'You forgot to enter your request';

		} else {
			$user_request = mysql_prep($user_request);
		}

					if(empty($errors)) { //If all went well and there are no errors

			//Send an email to the customer
			$body = "Thank you for taking the time to contact us, $name!\n\nWe will be intouch shortly...\n\nSincerely, the Dynaweave team.";
			mail($email, $subject, $body, $from);
			if (mail($email, $subject, $body, $from)) {
				echo "<br />
				  <p class=\"thankyou\">Thank you so much {$name}, your message was sent successfully!</p>
				  <p class=\"thankyou\">An auto email response will be sent to the email address<br />
				  you provided and we'll be in contact soon.					
				  <br /><br /></p>"; 
				  //Check if customer chose new business then echo reminder to tell them they can save big!
				  if($newbiz == 'new'){ echo $reminder;}
			} else {
				echo "<p class=\"error\">Sorry, but message delivery failed.<br />
					  Please check to see that you entered your email address and if it's valid. 
					  <p class=\"error\">Refresh your browser and try again. 
					 <p><a href=\"contact.php\" >REFRESH BROWSER</a></p></p>";
				}  

			//This email goes to me from what the user typed in
			//It will capture all form data and relay to the email on file
			//Later the email will sort according to subject type. 
			$timesent = date("D M j G:i:s T Y");
			$body = mysql_prep($_POST['user_request']);
			$client_request = "Visitor's name is: {$name}\n\nSent on: {$timesent}\n\n";
			$client_request .= "Visitors' email address is: '{$email}'\n";
			$client_request .= "Visitors' phone number is: {$phone}\n";
			$client_request .= "Visitors' best time to call is: {$best_time}\n";
			$client_request .= "Visitors' reason for contact is: {$reason}\n\n\nThis is what the vistor typed:\n\n";
			$client_request .= $body;
			@mail($dynamail, "Message from contact: {$reason}", $client_request, "From: {$email}");


		} else {  //Report the errors
		echo '<h1 class="error">Error!</h1><p class="error">The following errors occured:<br />';

		foreach($errors as $msg) { //Print each error in the array
			echo " * $msg<br />\n";
		}
		echo '</p><p class="error">Please go back and try again...</p><br />';

	} //End of if(empty($errors) IF

} else { //Display the form	

?>

<!--FORM STARTS HERE-->

...ALL FORM ELEMENTS...

</form>
<?php
} //Close the main IF-ELSE
?>

[bradmasterx]

Can you tell me how to setup a mail server please? it makes me suicidal been trying for ages.

[kroleig1]

It was really easy and still works on one of my machines.
The most important part is getting the php.ini file correct. You should have your ISP's SMTP server also handy, as you will enter this info into the php.ini file.

There are better ways to send mail using phpmailer(but this is object oriented but I found that it is quite logical and easy to configure too.)

The following explanation is for when you want to send mail from you own local computer, so sending mail through php is even easier if you have a good web host, since they have(should have) the mail server configured correctly.

---

Anyway for your home pc you need to configure php first.. Use the php.ini file and follow these steps. Further instructions on how to send mail can be found at:

Before you can send email with PHP, you need to set it up to do so, just as you need to set up your email program before it can send messages. Configuration for sending email in PHP is done with the php.ini file, so open up your Web server's php.ini in whichever editor you normally use.

If you don't run your own server, but instead have a PHP-equipped Web host, you can safely assume that everything in this section has been done for you, and skip ahead.

In the section entitled [mail function] in the php.ini file, you'll find three settings: SMTP, sendmail_from, and sendmail_path. If your server runs on a Windows machine, you'll want to set the SMTP option to point to your SMTP server (or your ISP's SMTP server, if you're setting up PHP on your home machine). If instead you're setting up PHP on a Linux (or other Unix-based OS) server, you'll want to set the sendmail_path option to point to the sendmail program on your server, passing it the -t option. You can use the SMTP option in Linux instead if you don't have sendmail set up.

In either case, you'll want to set the sendmail_from option to your email address, or whichever address you'd like to appear as the default 'from' address for emails sent from PHP scripts.

Here's how the section might look on a typical Windows server, or on a Linux server without sendmail:

[mail function]
; Setup for Windows systems
SMTP = smtp.my.isp.net
sendmail_from = [e-mail]

And here's how it might look on a Linux server with sendmail:

[mail function]
; Setup for Linux systems
sendmail_path = /usr/sbin/sendmail -t
sendmail_from = [e-mail]

With those settings in place, restart your Web server and you're ready to go!