You're absolutely right, the softlimit is set to 2'000'000 membytes.The error message is quite clear, albeit I must confess: not it's origin.
Are you, by any chance, running the qmail-smtpd process under control of "softlimit" or do you have "ulimit"s applied???
I've just adapted the recomendation from "life with qmail" without reading the notes! shame on me! ;)
Now it works great, hint appreciated!
Best regads Sam