WP PHP mail function not working correctly.

I have been experiencing some issues with my client’s website (see here: https://nwimt.com), and the primary problem at the moment is that the WordPress PHP mail function is not working.

I am using a plugin from a3rev.com to send messages via the WP mail function, but this was not working, which is what initially made the problem obvious.

Steve from a3rev recommended that I install the WP-Mail-SMTP plugin to see if I could troubleshoot the issue, and it provided me with this output:

I have replaced my email address with “[email protected]” for security purposes.

Test Message Sent

The result was:

bool(true)
The full debugging output is shown below:

object(PHPMailer)#94 (58) {
  ["Priority"]=>
  int(3)
  ["CharSet"]=>
  string(5) "UTF-8"
  ["ContentType"]=>
  string(10) "text/plain"
  ["Encoding"]=>
  string(4) "8bit"
  ["ErrorInfo"]=>
  string(36) "Could not instantiate mail function."
  ["From"]=>
  string(19) "[email protected]"
  ["FromName"]=>
  string(36) "NorthWest Industries of Montana Inc."
  ["Sender"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["Subject"]=>
  string(46) "WP Mail SMTP: Test mail to [email protected]"
  ["Body"]=>
  string(68) "This is a test email generated by the WP Mail SMTP WordPress plugin."
  ["AltBody"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["MIMEBody:protected"]=>
  string(69) "This is a test email generated by the WP Mail SMTP WordPress plugin.
"
  ["MIMEHeader:protected"]=>
  string(385) "Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 10:31:59 +0000
Return-Path: [email protected]
From: "NorthWest Industries of Montana Inc."
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: PHPMailer 5.2.1 (https://code.google.com/a/apache-extras.org/p/phpmailer/)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
"
  ["SentMIMEMessage:protected"]=>
  string(538) "Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 10:31:59 +0000
Return-Path: [email protected]
From: "NorthWest Industries of Montana Inc."
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: PHPMailer 5.2.1 (https://code.google.com/a/apache-extras.org/p/phpmailer/)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
To: [email protected]
Subject: WP Mail SMTP: Test mail to [email protected]

This is a test email generated by the WP Mail SMTP WordPress plugin.
"
  ["WordWrap"]=>
  int(0)
  ["Mailer"]=>
  string(4) "mail"
  ["Sendmail"]=>
  string(18) "/usr/sbin/sendmail"
  ["PluginDir"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["ConfirmReadingTo"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["Hostname"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["MessageID"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["Host"]=>
  string(9) "localhost"
  ["Port"]=>
  int(25)
  ["Helo"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["SMTPSecure"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["SMTPAuth"]=>
  bool(false)
  ["Username"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["Password"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["Timeout"]=>
  int(10)
  ["SMTPDebug"]=>
  int(2)
  ["SMTPKeepAlive"]=>
  bool(false)
  ["SingleTo"]=>
  bool(false)
  ["SingleToArray"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["LE"]=>
  string(1) "
"
  ["DKIM_selector"]=>
  string(9) "phpmailer"
  ["DKIM_identity"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["DKIM_passphrase"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["DKIM_domain"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["DKIM_private"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["action_function"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["Version"]=>
  string(5) "5.2.1"
  ["XMailer"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["smtp:protected"]=>
  NULL
  ["to:protected"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    array(2) {
      [0]=>
      string(19) "[email protected]"
      [1]=>
      string(0) ""
    }
  }
  ["cc:protected"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["bcc:protected"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["ReplyTo:protected"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["all_recipients:protected"]=>
  array(1) {
    ["[email protected]"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["attachment:protected"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["CustomHeader:protected"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["message_type:protected"]=>
  string(5) "plain"
  ["boundary:protected"]=>
  array(3) {
    [1]=>
    string(35) "b1_6eceefe66fac5373add646300f964713"
    [2]=>
    string(35) "b2_6eceefe66fac5373add646300f964713"
    [3]=>
    string(35) "b3_6eceefe66fac5373add646300f964713"
  }
  ["language:protected"]=>
  array(17) {
    ["provide_address"]=>
    string(54) "You must provide at least one recipient email address."
    ["mailer_not_supported"]=>
    string(25) " mailer is not supported."
    ["execute"]=>
    string(19) "Could not execute: "
    ["instantiate"]=>
    string(36) "Could not instantiate mail function."
    ["authenticate"]=>
    string(35) "SMTP Error: Could not authenticate."
    ["from_failed"]=>
    string(35) "The following From address failed: "
    ["recipients_failed"]=>
    string(45) "SMTP Error: The following recipients failed: "
    ["data_not_accepted"]=>
    string(30) "SMTP Error: Data not accepted."
    ["connect_host"]=>
    string(43) "SMTP Error: Could not connect to SMTP host."
    ["file_access"]=>
    string(23) "Could not access file: "
    ["file_open"]=>
    string(33) "File Error: Could not open file: "
    ["encoding"]=>
    string(18) "Unknown encoding: "
    ["signing"]=>
    string(15) "Signing Error: "
    ["smtp_error"]=>
    string(19) "SMTP server error: "
    ["empty_message"]=>
    string(18) "Message body empty"
    ["invalid_address"]=>
    string(15) "Invalid address"
    ["variable_set"]=>
    string(30) "Cannot set or reset variable: "
  }
  ["error_count:protected"]=>
  int(1)
  ["sign_cert_file:protected"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["sign_key_file:protected"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["sign_key_pass:protected"]=>
  string(0) ""
  ["exceptions:protected"]=>
  bool(false)
}
The SMTP debugging output is shown below:

Could not instantiate mail function.

If anyone can help with this matter, I would be eternally grateful!