Email Error: Could not instantiate mail function. Yahoo hosting

[jcosta3]

Hello, I get this error: Email Error: Could not instantiate mail function.

This comes up after I press the button to confirm my order in the shopping cart (step 3 of 3). I currently have the email Transport method set for PHP -- although I have tried them all to no avail -- using either SMTP settings it says it can't find the host, however if I set it for either sendMail option, I don't get the error. I get the confirmation but I don't receive an e-mail. I'm setting this up for a client and I had it working on my host/server, but when I transferred everything over to his server, it doesn't. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but he's using Yahoo small business hosting. Thanks.

[plamenusa]

yep, i get the same thing.
ideas anyone?

[DrByte]

I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but he's using Yahoo small business hosting.

What does Yahoo's tech support say you should be using for sending emails from your website?

[jcosta3]

I figured out the problem. If you are using Yahoo Small Business the email header is set to an address within the domain name you are using. So your setting for Email Address (sent FROM) in Email options has to be a yahoo account. This is if you are using the PHPmail. It's kind of dopey but thats the way they roll. Hope this helps anyone else having a similar issue. Thanks for the quick response....

[ValhallaSoapGal]

I got this same error message when trying to send out my first newsletter to my subscriber list of 161 subscribers last night. It sent out 48/161 and then I got the errror message. I don't use Yahoo. Any ideas why I got this?
Also, any ideas how I can re-send my newsletter without sending a duplicate to the 48 others that it already sent to?

Thanks

[superprg]

ValhallaSoapGal,
1. Does the From email exists in Cpanel for you?
2. Also, make sure that mail functin is not disabled or is it any SMTP problem-> Ask your host

[travisseitler]

If I can answer from my own recent (today) experiences:

ValhallaSoapGal,
1. Does the From email exists in Cpanel for you?
2. Also, make sure that mail functin is not disabled or is it any SMTP problem-> Ask your host

1. Yes.
2. Spoke to my host (BlueHost); hourly SMTP Throttling is in effect. The tech I spoke with raised it from 50/hr to 350/hr.

That tech said he had heard of methods (plugin?) to break up the newsletter subscriber list from within Zen Cart. I've been searching for a while now, and can't find anything like that. My wife's newsletter subscriber list is already over 270, and that's just signups in the past two weeks! I'm going to hit that throttle limit again pretty soon. Is there a way to segment the newsletter subscriber list, and send the newsletter to only one segment at a time?

[ValhallaSoapGal]

I tried sending out a newsletter last night night. But it didn’t work right. It only sent it out to first 48 of the 161 subscribers, Then I got an error message that it "could not instantiate" something or another. It was 1 am, I don't remember the rest of the error, just that word that I've never hear of, lol.

I read in another post that it had something to do with Yahoo Small Business, but I don't have/use YSB.

I have no idea what this error message means, or how to fix it. And I don’t know how to try and resend the newsletter without it resending to that entire group of 48 that may have already gotten it.
Any ideas/feedback on this problem?

Thanks in advance.