Connection to Exchange server crashes Outlook client.

[spyordie007]

I'm having a problem with my Exchange server (Exch. 2000 SP-3) when connecting to it with the Outlook client (Outlook 2002 SP-2). Our end users just use OWA to access their mailboxes, however I would like to use the Outlook client so that I could open multiple mailboxes, manage, etc. I can open my mailbox just fine (using integrated windows login) when logged onto the domain, however when I do any of the following the Outlook client closes, I do not get a crash error, etc, it just closes.
[*]Try to create a new message (using Word as the mail editor)
[*]Try and send a message (using Outlook as the mail editor)
[*]Open an additional mailbox
[*]Open Outlook when not logged into the domain (local account, so it asks for domain login info when launching).

If I try and send a message without opening the Outlook client (ie, right clicking on a file and selecting send to>mail recepient) the message gets created, however when I try and send it I get the following error message:
The operation failed due to network or other communications problems, Check your connections and try again.

I've tried it with multiple accounts/profiles from multiple computers and I get the same problems and at this point I'm out of ideas of things to look at or try. I havent been able to reference anything like this on Microsoft's knowledge base.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? At this point anything would be appreciated.

-Spy

 

[spyordie007]

Anyone?

 

[spyordie007]

come on!

bump already.

 

[spyordie007]

You have got to be kidding me, you people do know what Exchange is dont you?

 

[Halz]

Its not clear how controlled the testing you've done is...

Has any machine you've tested with been a fresh install of 2k and Outlook, with and wihtout current updates?

If the problem is reproducable consistantly on any outlook client (fresh install, whatever), it would suggest that the problem is in the configuration of the AD server and/or exchange server.

Something worth testing might be trying to access the server with a 3rd party email client with simply IMAP (or just telneting into 143 and throwing some RFC commands at it..) see what happens

 

[spyordie007]

Sorry if I was unclear, the problem exists on every Outlook client that I've tested it with so I'm pretty sure it's an AD or Exch configuration problem.

Something worth testing might be trying to access the server with a 3rd party email client with simply IMAP (or just telneting into 143 and throwing some RFC commands at it..) see what happens

I have used pop3/smtp just fine, however have not tested imap, I'll do that today to see what I get.

Thanks for the suggestion Halz!

-Spy

 

[spyordie007]

I was able to connect (and send/recieve) mail when I used IMAP, I also used telnet to connect the the IMAP port and was able to authenticate and list the contents of an inbox (not that I was surprised since I was able to connect with a full IMAP client).

Any other suggestions as to where to look?

-Spy

 

[Halz]

I've been trying to configure an exchange 2000 test server I have here to get an outlook client to crash out (in any circumstances), and haven't had much luck..

Is there anything really very special outside of most 'default' options with the configuration of your server/domain/network?

 

[spyordie007]

I wish I could say there was, I'm running exchange on Win 2K Advanced Server that is a DC (my domain wasnot upgraded from an NT domain). It's a very strait-forward install (which is why this baffles me so much...).

To add to the confusion I was able to get one workstation (win xp, outlook xp) to connect and work correctly for some time (although it was terribly slow, took 30-60 seconds to open the inbox), however it ended up crashing out after about 20 min. :|

I welcome any and all suggestions that might help me find out why this is happening.

-Spy