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Email isn't sending or receiving

Maxim Tsitsejev
Updated

Applies to: All plans. Your email runs on resold Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace — not on the hosting server — so most send/receive problems trace back to your DNS records or your mailbox, not the website.

On Managed plans we set up and check SPF, DKIM and DMARC for you, and migration is free. Start a chat and we will triage it with you.

Symptoms

  • Incoming mail never arrives, or bounces back to the sender.
  • Outgoing mail is rejected, or lands in recipients' spam folders.
  • Some messages get through but others fail intermittently.

Common causes (most likely first)

  1. A missing or wrong MX record — incoming mail has nowhere to go.
  2. Missing or incorrect SPF / DKIM / DMARC — your sends fail authentication and get rejected or filed as spam.
  3. The domain isn't fully verified in the Microsoft 365 admin centre or Google Workspace setup wizard.
  4. The mailbox or licence isn't active — an unlicensed or suspended seat can't send or receive.
  5. The mail is simply in the Junk / Spam folder.
  6. Records were added in the wrong place (e.g. the cPanel zone editor) — those do not control your live DNS.

Quick fixes

1. Check the spam folder first

Sign in to webmail — outlook.office.com for Microsoft 365 or mail.google.com for Google Workspace — and look in Junk or Spam. This rules out the simplest cause in seconds.

2. Confirm your email DNS records

All email DNS records are managed in your client area (Maxinodes-managed, on our own nameservers) — not in cPanel. The cPanel zone editor does not control live DNS here, so ignore it. Check that you have:

  • An MX record pointing to your provider (Microsoft 365 uses <tenant>.mail.protection.outlook.com; Google Workspace uses smtp.google.com, or the older ASPMX records).
  • A TXT SPF record (v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all for M365, or v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all for Workspace).
  • Your DKIM records (the CNAMEs/TXT shown in your provider's admin console).
  • Optionally a DMARC TXT record at _dmarc (start at p=none).

The exact values are tenant-specific — always copy them from the Microsoft 365 admin centre or the Google Workspace setup wizard. Never reuse another tenant's values.

3. Verify the domain and the mailbox

In your provider's admin console, confirm the domain shows as verified / active and that the affected mailbox has an active licence. An unverified domain or an unlicensed seat will fail silently.

4. Wait for propagation

If you have just added or changed records, allow time. DNS changes are usually live within minutes to a few hours, up to 24–48 hours in the worst case, depending on the record's TTL.

Result: With a correct MX, valid SPF/DKIM/DMARC, a verified domain and an active licensed mailbox, mail flows in both directions and stays out of spam.

If that didn't work

  • Read the exact bounce / error text — it usually names the failing check (e.g. "SPF fail", "relay denied", "recipient not found").
  • Double-check you edited DNS in the client area, not cPanel, and that your nameservers are ns1.maxinodes.com and ns2.maxinodes.com.
  • Note that Maxinodes does not run your mailboxes — there are no Maxinodes mail server names to enter into a client. Clients connect using the provider's own autoconfig.
  • Still stuck? Contact us with the details below.

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