Expected response code 220 but got code "", with message "" in laravel 5.3

Question

Drive setting in my .env file is as follow

 MAIL_DRIVER=sendmail
 MAIL_HOST=gmail-smtp-msa.l.google.com
 MAIL_PORT=587
 [email protected]
 MAIL_PASSWORD=password
 MAIL_ENCRYPTION=ssl

and in my config/mail.php my configurations are

 <?php

 return [

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Mail Driver
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Laravel supports both SMTP and PHP's "mail" function as drivers for the
| sending of e-mail. You may specify which one you're using throughout
| your application here. By default, Laravel is setup for SMTP mail.
|
| Supported: "smtp", "sendmail", "mailgun", "mandrill", "ses",
|            "sparkpost", "log", "array"
|
*/

'driver' => env('MAIL_DRIVER', 'sendmail'),

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| SMTP Host Address
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Here you may provide the host address of the SMTP server used by your
| applications. A default option is provided that is compatible with
| the Mailgun mail service which will provide reliable deliveries.
|
*/

'host' => env('MAIL_HOST', 'gmail-smtp-msa.l.google.com'),

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| SMTP Host Port
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| This is the SMTP port used by your application to deliver e-mails to
| users of the application. Like the host we have set this value to
| stay compatible with the Mailgun e-mail application by default.
|
*/

'port' => env('MAIL_PORT', 587),

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Global "From" Address
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| You may wish for all e-mails sent by your application to be sent from
| the same address. Here, you may specify a name and address that is
| used globally for all e-mails that are sent by your application.
|
*/

'from' => [
    'address' => env('MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS', '[email protected]'),
    'name' => env('MAIL_FROM_NAME', 'Tressly'),
],

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| E-Mail Encryption Protocol
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Here you may specify the encryption protocol that should be used when
| the application send e-mail messages. A sensible default using the
| transport layer security protocol should provide great security.
|
*/

'encryption' => env('MAIL_ENCRYPTION', 'ssl'),

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| SMTP Server Username
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| If your SMTP server requires a username for authentication, you should
| set it here. This will get used to authenticate with your server on
| connection. You may also set the "password" value below this one.
|
*/

'username' => env('MAIL_USERNAME'),

'password' => env('MAIL_PASSWORD'),

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Sendmail System Path
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| When using the "sendmail" driver to send e-mails, we will need to know
| the path to where Sendmail lives on this server. A default path has
| been provided here, which will work well on most of your systems.
|
*/

'sendmail' => '/usr/sbin/sendmail -bs',
'pretend' => false,

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
   | Markdown Mail Settings
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| If you are using Markdown based email rendering, you may configure your
| theme and component paths here, allowing you to customize the design
| of the emails. Or, you may simply stick with the Laravel defaults!
|
*/
'mailgun' => [
'domain' => 'your-mailgun-domain',
'secret' => 'your-mailgun-key',
 ],
 'markdown' => [
    'theme' => 'default',

    'paths' => [
        resource_path('views/vendor/mail'),
    ],
   ],

 ];  

I am using following function to send an email

        Mail::send('Mail.mail', ['msg' => 'Congratulations!!! Your first email template sent'], function($message ) use ($id) {
            $user = User::getEmail($id);
            $var = $user->email;
            $var1 = $user->first_name;
            $message->to($var, $var1)->subject('User has been approved');
        });

after calling this function i am getting following error

   Expected response code 220 but got code "", with message "" 

I have tried many solution from stackoverflow as well as from other websites but nothing worked in this case. Any ideas ?

Answer 1

I think you have problem with your Driver and Encryption Type your configuration should look like , use smtp host

 MAIL_DRIVER=smtp
 MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
 MAIL_PORT=587
 MAIL_USERNAME=///
 MAIL_PASSWORD=///
 MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls