At least your standard fax machine can't distribute viruses across your internal network. Also, when a fax comes across, your confidence in where the sender is located is much higher; it would be pretty difficult to fake a fax origination number.

This is a great concept. Too bad it doesn't work. According to my ISP (at&t - @sbcglobal.net) and the Sharp representatives, everything was set-up correctly. The only response I got for emailed faxes is "SERVER ERROR (-14)". I feel that this product was not fully tested. It also does not provide for secure email authentication (SSL).

Same thing happened to me, using the yahoo smtp account.

The problem is the way it sends the mail. Most accounts these days require SMTP authentication before they will allow you to send mail for spam prevention reasons. This machine uses POP before SMTP which is rejected. You may be able to find a service which supports this, but it will be difficult.

I bought one and it is really easy to set up print quality is great but same thing server error 14 I called my ISp and they do not know what pop before smtp is ?? that is 1 and 1 internet. I am returning mine to Walmart $98.00 not bad if it would work..

From EnGadget post:

Carl Spiegler @ Nov 6th 2006 6:18PM
Update...fixed my problem with a duplex splitter. works great even thought sharp says it doesn't. As for that Stmp and pop before stmp stuff, just unclick the authentication button in your e mail set-up. so far, haven't found anyone that can't receive my e-mails. i'm a believer again

This is why I love the Internet. I just bought this piece of crap machine ONLY for the E-mail feature. I get it home and set it up and get Server Error -14. I'd have spend another 1/2 hours wasting my time trying to get ti to work but a quick entry of the model and "server error -14" brought me here. Thanks for the info.

I also got "SERVER ERROR (-14)". I use the earthlink.net account.

Sharp Broadband fax UX B800SE; I also received the same message (Server Error (-14)) Has anyone resolved this issue yet? I did receive a previous message stating Login Error, but I think I was able to resolve that one, not sure, I will call Sharp in am and if they can't resolve it then I would agree with the person above that it was brought to market without being fully tested for functionality.

Sharp BroadBand Fax UX-B800SE:

In retrospect, I think with today's high tech gadgetry, this fax machine is sorely lacking in memory capacity for both fax numbers (63) and email addresses (39). At a minimum, they should allow for two hundred of each, at least! A cellphone can hold several hundred cell #'s with related information. Like I said in my earlier post, I think they brought it to market to soon; and Sharp should have received more input from customers and potential customers....not sure why they settled on such a low number for phone numbers and email addresses.....does not fit their marketing strategy, now does it? In addition, the index to the book has no "Troubleshooting" or "Problems" section...the website does not offer Error Messages and how to resolve them.....and, the layout of the buttons and the related pictures in the manual are in need of revision...one would have to see it to understand what I am referring to. But, they have one four sided button, like a joystick, that has forward, backward (up and down) and side to side(right or left) movement....The buttons should have been separated, not combined in a multi-function switch.

Anyone have any idea how to resolve the Server Error (-14)? Exactly what good does a duplex splitter on the phone line do? Tries it out anyway still getting the error.

This is why I love the Internet. I saw an advertisement in USA Today and it appealed to me. I put in a search for "Sharp broadband fax" and it brought me here. Now I'm going to wait and see. Knowledge-sharing at its best.

Same server error message here - no one can figure out how to fix it (at sharp or att) - Anyone got it to send a fax to email.

Has anyone found a solution? Is Jan 20 2007, and since August are almost 6 months. I can't believe Sharp has not been able to provide a solution.

I had the same problem. First time I bought this machine I had to return becuase of server errror(-14). However this machine is too good for the price, I couldn't resist experimenting with it again and I went to Sam's club got it for ~100 bucks. I had the server issue again if ISP smt server settings are used...but this time:
1) I had setup a free smpt relay server(such as http://www.softstack.com "free smt server version 2.2 freeware") on one of my machines connected to home network router.
2) I just gave may machinename:25 smpt port. disabled the "pop before smpt". Good news... it works.Now I'm able to successfully transmit faxes to e-mail and it's very cool and tiff format has better quality looks great.one downside however your machine that is hosting smtp relay server, needs to be connected to router :)

The bottom line if you don't want to wait until the server error (-14) is fixed you can still use it by having your own smt relay server where the SMTP settings are local to your LAN(home-network) and simple to do istall. SHARP must be knowing this fix but however if they suggest this, they have to advise the customers to install SMTP server on atleast one computer in the network contrary to product feature, which is tricky for non tech folks.

In any case this is a cool product.

I got the very same server error (-14) and tried Softstack's Free SMTP Server mentioned above, and it indeed works great with the fax machine.
However I was a bit turned off when I read that it was designed to work with a mass mailer, and I wasn't sure if I could trust something that is bulk email related and wouldn't provide any source codes.

So I looked for an alternative and tried hMailServer. It is more complex than Softstack's SMTP server and has much more to offer than I needed to make the fax-to-email functionality work. But it is free, open-source, works quietly as a windows-service, and it works great with the fax-machine, too. http://www.hmailserver.com/

I still wished Sharp would fix their firmware & smtp-handling, but it all works now thanks to this workaround...and that's good enough for me :) It's a great machine and functionality for an unbeatable price (paid only $90).

I just received this fax today and I'm very disapointed, because by one side, I use Vonage, and I dont have a phone line to send normal faxes, and by the other the same ridicoulus error SERVER ERROR -14 or . My email accouint is on Yahoo, and it doesn't works with this, and with the two solutions that Gerrit and Nagesgar give us, I can't put it to work. I need more info of how to. Thanks.

Gerrit! I just bought this fax, and I am having trouble with hMailServer. Could you tell me what settings you are using? The fax doesn't give me a server error message, but rather a Server not found SMTP... I had to make the fax look for 'localhost' as the smtp so that I wouldn't get the Server Error -14 message. If I use Softstack's Free SMTP with my computer's hostname, it goes fine into softstack's program but hangs there without sending out. Softstack's program won't allow relaying through another smtp, if that is the problem... and even if it did, it would have to be able to use ssl to use any SMTP I use from ISPs. Help! lol

I was getting the same Server Error -14 and was able to fix the problem by opening a new (free) email account with a company that still offers "POP before SMTP". I don't know much about the company other than that. It is HotPOP at www.hotpop.com . After the settings were correctly entered on the fax machine's set-up page, I am now able to fax to email as promised! The drawback is that your HotPOP address is shown as the sender on the email. If you can live with that, you can be faxing to email in minutes.

I've been fighting the Server Error (-14) message for some time now. I installed PostCast Server - which does not require authentication. However, the error would simply not go away no matter what I did. PostCast worked fine - I tried it with Outlook, Thunderbird, a Xerox C2424 printer all which work wonderfully. The Sharp UX-B800SE simply would not talk to it or any other SMTP server. However, I read Joann Davis's message above and tried HotPOP (I was desperate at this point) - and still got the (-14) error message. Then just for grins - I tried changing the "Sender's E-mail Address" field to match the pop log-in user name (which is also the e-mail address in HotPOP)... and presto it worked!!!

Thanks for your help Joann... The Sharp UX-B800SE seems to be a good little machine, but it definiately needs some work. I've would say that I'm fairly experienced with various network and e-mail problems - but this one had me stumped. I still don't know why it works - but it does, so I'm not asking any more questions.

Sharp's reply to my query on this was simply that my SMTP server was not accepting the fax machines login request. Which was un-helpful to say the least. Sharp really needs to work on this a little more and clean up the e-mail configuration screens.

If your stuck - I suggest trying HotPOP - it works. Have fun...

I tried doing what Don Knight suggested on march 23rd but i am still getting a 'server error smtp' after installing hotpop. i don't know what you mean by the "senders email address" but i changed all email addresses in there to my new hotpop one. Am i missing something?
thanks for your help

i can't get the hotpop thing to work, spoke with sharp tech support. they say that it will never work with any web-based email pograms - including hotpop
and advice and what i can do - i tried hotpop and it's not working for me...

I'm not sure what happened - the Hotpop thing worked for me for a couple of days, then *poof* my machine reverted back to the pesky "server error -14". Don, is your set-up still working? Any suggestions?

I hate to beat a dead horse but I could not resist the temptation. The internet is a great tool and I wished I had done my research before I bought the Sharp broadband fax. The issue here is that familiar serer error "Sever error (-14)" or the other "Server error pop". And it all relates to the creation of the new millennium "POP before SMTP" what is it? And why is it Sharp and the maker of this product are the only one's that know about it? hmmm…the answer must be filed away with all the other highly classified top secrets the CIA has including the alien landing in Roswell New Mexico. If it was not for the $22.50 I paid for this piece of crap machine I would have returned it, the first time I got that sever error. Thanks a lot sharp for the cheapest fax machine I have ever gotten I now know the price I paid for it was too good to be true. �

The Sharp Broadband Fax worked fine with my email, it's using Comcast on an internal network.

I'm not sure if this is a new model but I had no problem getting it to work.

I also saw a checkbox on the configuration page you can whip up in your browser on the IP of the device.

I think the problem is if your SMTP server requires authentication (i.e. a password and login) to send. This would be the case if you used an SMTP server not in your local network because they wouldn't want people sending spam out on it. Comcast doesn't have it because only people who are inside comcast.com's network can even send mail to that server.

The fax I have gives you the option of adding those parameters. From what I'm reading this wasn't always the case.

I bought this fax because I had to go to Kinko's one night to fax something and the machine was broken. I like efax but I don't like being charged or scanning then reattaching to email.

This gives you a device that can not only scan to email, but can forward all your faxes to email for you. That's awesome!

I still get quite a few legal documents and such through the fax machine.

I tried hot pop, free smtp and anything I could found here or other place, still doesn't work. This fucking machine is absolutely a April 01 joke-just like what google's toilet ISP joke on April 01-

typically you want to use your smtp server for your isp. Att user use mail.sbcglobal.net works great

Basically no webmail works as most of it is http based.

Mainly the machine just needs a network connection and an smtp server that doesnt require smtp authentification, that your able to aceess (most smtp servers are only acessesable if your using that internet service.

The machine is cheap even as a normal fax machine, find another machine in this price range for fax to email. You wont. so quit ur bitchin.

POP before SMTP is not a secret CIA project. ;) It is a method to restrict emails to senders within a local network.

Here are a couple of links if you want to explore the topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POP_before_SMTP
http://www.iecc.com/pop-before-smtp.html

I just bought the 1200 model. Same problem. There is no place to setup authenticated smtp. I am very dissapointed. Sharp website has no info about this.

I received the Server 14 error on all of my web based POP3 accounts. I used my ISPs (cable modem's) email settings WITHOUT the pop authentication and it worked fine.

Another unhappy customer. I too am getting the Server Error -14.

The SMTP support certainly does not work as advertised. Sharp should mention that it may only work in 10% or fewer cases. These days Authentication is required by most ISPs. My eMail service(MSN) goes even further and requires SSL, which this does not support.

I had to setup my own mail server and even with that, I only have a 50% success rate. So far about 50% of the receiving ISPs reject my emails saying that it may be spam, or some just don't deliver them.

I'm not sure what I will do, return it or keep it. In order to even send a Fax to email to myself, I have to send it to some other email I setup through godday.com and then forward it to my personal email, since MSN will not deliver mail coming from my email server.

BTW, I am using Rhino's DNS4ME Dynamic DNS (www.dns4me.com) Service which the paid version also includes a Web Server and Email Server. I also use thier FTP Server.

Anyone recieved a Connection Error (-8)? Thought I was through the smtp problems, but then this error came up. No one at Sharp seems to know ehat this error is.

I found out that ATT dsl has block my outgoing port 25 (for spam protection purpose). Call ATT to unblock it and install a free smtp server on one of my machine within my local network, then point Sharp fax machine to it (local smtp server), uncheck box "connect to pop server" then everything work great!

NEED HELP!!! opened a HotPop.com email account and this Sharp fax machine still doesn't work. It shows SMTP error on its screen. Any suggestion and help? Thank you!

I have the solution: on one of your pcs in your local network install free smtp server. It will auto detect all its settings so do not worry about this. On the fax machine smtp server in the email settings make the smtp server the ip address of the pc with the free smtp server installed. Sorted - enter any email setting you like.
Works for me!!
Cheers
James

How to roll up your sleeves and debug your problem:

First, a bit of theory about email. Email was originally sent using smtp protocol on TCP port 25, and received on pop protocol TCP port 110. Receiving on 110 required authentication, sending on 25 did not. As the number of virus-infected machines grew with broadband connections, unauthenticated smtp on port 25 were prohibited on some ISPs. Pacbell here in Palo Alto,CA used to block port 25 a few years go, but you could set up your mail server to use a different port than 25 and be OK. I was surprised to see today that port 25 is no longer blocked. This is probably because in the evolution of spam management on the internet, IP addresses that are the source of spam as mail servers are quickly "blacklisted" using services such as spamhaus.org, and incoming mail transfer agents (mail servers) check those listings before accepting port 25 email, using a handy trick ordinarily used for DNS resolution. So today, there are two main authentication methods for sending mail clients such as your laptop and new sharp fax machine - "pop before smtp" and "smtp auth". So there are two components to the problem of making this silly buy useful fax machine work: 1) you have to figure out which sending methods your service provider supports, and 2) you have to figure out why things are going wrong.
To figure out which methods of sending email your ISP supports, bring up a command shell window in whatever OS you like.
to test and see if bare port 25 is available: (stuff you type has <-- at the end), xx.xx.xx.xx is the IP address of your mail server, and (this is a comment) is my notation from the session

telnet xx.xx.xx.xx 25 <--
either you'll get dead silence if port 25 is blocked by your ISP, or you'll get a greeting like:
220 penguin-1.chesavage.com ESMTP Sendmail 8.12.8/8.12.8; Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:46

if the ISP blocks port 25, or the mail server uses a different port than 25, you can substitute that. Port 587 is usually used in accompaniment with "smtp auth", which we'll get to later.

The next step in the "test port 25" sequence is:
ehlo localdomain <--
250-penguin-1.chesavage.com Hello adsl-70-132-13-178.dsl.snfc21.sbcglobal.net [70.132.13.178], pleased to meet you
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250-PIPELINING
250-8BITMIME
250-SIZE
250-DSN
250-ETRN
250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN
250-STARTTLS
250-DELIVERBY
250 HELP
MAIL FROM: ME@CHESAVAGE.COM <--
(the above can be any legitimate sender address)
250 2.1.0 ME@CHESAVAGE.COM... Sender ok
RCPT TO:FAX@CHESAVAGE.COM <--
(use whatever direct or forwarding address you're going to be sending faxes to)
250 2.1.5 FAX@CHESAVAGE.COM... Recipient ok (created fax@chesavage.com to forward, but if you get this far, this sharp fax machine is for you!)
QUIT <--
221 2.0.0 penguin-1.chesavage.com closing connection
(so this an example of a successful smtp mailto, which means you can use the fax with "pop before smtp" UNCHECKED.)

Here is the sequence you don't want to get, which indicates that you're using "auth login"
EHLO localdomain <--
250-penguin-1.chesavage.com Hello adsl-70-132-13-178.dsl.snfc21.sbcglobal.net [70.132.13.178], pleased to meet you
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250-PIPELINING
250-8BITMIME
250-SIZE
250-DSN
250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN
250-STARTTLS
250-DELIVERBY
250 HELP

(Here is the critical test:)
MAIL FROM: jay@chesavage.com <--
530 5.7.0 Authentication required
(Oh No, Will Robinson, this means you're hosed for this fax machine, or you'll have to set up a mailserver to accept "pop before smtp", or use a local mailserver that doesn't do authentication for local connections, or use one of the ISPs mentioned here (which you can test using these methods).

To see if "pop before smtp" will work for you, you'll unfortunately have to run and capture ethereal below using your email client logging in to get certain values to type in - pop sends the username and password as a hash, and you'll not be able to login without knowing those hashes derived from your username and password.

Now, for the second part, debugging what is going on. The Sharp guys weren't too sharp here when it came to funneling every imaginable protocol misstep into "server error 14", so you'll need to compensate by getting a laptop running the free network analyzer "ethereal" or "wireshark" as it's known now, and you'll want to put the laptop, the fax machine, and your broadband connection on an ethernet hub (the broadband connection will be on a "crossover" input), make sure all inputs have good links, and turn off your laptop wireless adapter for now so everything goes through the hub. Shut down your laptop mail client, chat client, or any other program generating extraneous traffic you'll have to sift through. Start Ethereal, and send a fax using your settings from above. You'll see something that should look like the above telnet session, which you can type into your own telnet session later for debug. You might want to select one packet coming from the fax machine and select "follow tcp stream" from the menu. If you're patient (which you'll need to be if you bought this machine), you'll figure it out.
Was setup easy? Could have been worse. Customer frustration avoidable by Sharp? Absolutely. Should they have supported "auth smtp"?, or provided firmware download ability through the web so they could support it in the future (might as well add the ability to set the stinking time and date, and see transmission and reception reports through the web interface, too)? Obviously. If they hadn't screwed all of this up, would you have gotten yours for $25 on ebay? Nope.

I am fairly technical but am having the hardest task in making this network scanning work. I followed the instructions from one of the above posts and installed hMailServer. No clue on what needs to be done next. Anybody please help me in getting this baby scanning.
I have comcast as the internet provider.
I have an email account with godaddy also.
Nobody is helping me with this machine.
Spent countless hours so far.
Any help in ending my pain is very much appreciated.