SMTP/PHP issues

[JP]

This is not a case where I am not searching the forum for information that is already out there. I have read probably 40 posts about this very issue and yet I still can't get any success. I have tried every scenario I can think of and I am about two steps from passing out. Please help if you can. I'm exhausted. :)

I have a server at home that I am using to host my photo gallery and blog. The few friends I have can access it simply by entering my ip address in IE. I plan to get a domain name soon which will redirect to this IP. I would think my setup is fairly simple:

XP Pro with IIS services stopped
Router with firewall up
Software firewall (XP) up within XP Pro
Abyss web server configured for PHP
SimplePHPBlog - a simple BLOG PHP code that can be found at www.simplephpblog.com
PostCast SMTP Server (Freeware)

Everything is working great except one thing. There is a "Contact Me" section of SimplePHPBlog. I have followed all the directions I can find to set everything up properly and still SimplePHPBlog returns an error when you submit from the form. Here are some things I have tried:

Update PHP.INI to reflect the SMTP name of 127.0.0.1 and port=25.
Setup PostCast SMTP server everyway I can think of and for some reason it won't send e-mails from the form. What is strange is that I did have a scenario where it would work when I accessed the form from the web server itself. I have opened port 25 on my XP's firewall as well as the router.

I have been through so many scenarios I feel like I'm getting lost at this point. Could someone offer some guidance?

[MonkeyNation]

Firstly, on postcast, if you have port 25 open, and postcast is listening on it, make sure to limit the IPs that can send mail with it.

Then, make it log everything, and try to get the form to send a message.
If nothing about the message appears in the log, then goto C:/whatever/php.ini (Y helo thar search.) and ctrl+f 'sendmail' until you find [sendmail] or something similar. Read the comments and change the directives to suit your configuration.
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[JP]

Tried all that and still no luck. Here is what I did:

1. told postcast to only allow 192.168.03 to send mail since this is the ip address of the PC that it receives from the router.
2. Went into php.ini and changed the SMTP to from 127.0.0.1 to 192.168.0.3.
3. Attempted to use a form from the web on a PC at work and it still didn't work and I received an error.

What I can't figure out is the form works fine when I access 127.0.0.1 on the web server locally. It goes straight through to postcast and sits in the queue and then takes off like it should. It is only from anyone else on the web that attempts to use the form does it crash.

Any thoughts?

[MonkeyNation]

[JP]

I appreciate the responses. I think I have narrowed the problem down to the proxy server the corporation I work for uses. I still don't understand why the form is having this behavior because I work for a major oil corporation and surely their proxy servers are setup somewhat correctly or we would all be having problems.

Anyway, I had a friend of mine that was at home using his cable modem try the "Contact Me" form. He entered all the information, it logged his IP correctly, submitted the form fine, the e-mail went to my smtp server where it showed up, and then left and went to the e-mail address I setup. Basically, it worked perfectly. However, from work it just doesn't work and I receive errors. I tried to post to the blog as well and it just went back to the home page.

So all this leads me to believe it is a problem with the PHP script or the proxy server at my work just won't allow this type of communication which I don't think could be the answer.

I'll follow-up if I ever find some definitive answers. Thanks!