Help with Outlook

[unnamedplayer]

Hi all. I'm having a bit of a problem with Outlook 2003, namely after I
open it and it tries to display my set reminders it freezes on the
Reminders window. It will stay like this for 10 minutes or so before
finally coming back.

I have tried using the /cleanreminders switch. I did this once before
and I thought it worked. However, it is happening again. I tried using
the switch a couple of more times with no success.

Any ideas on what I can do to fix this problem?

P.S. I am using Windows 2000 with SP4 and this mailbox is stored on an Exchange 2003 server.

Thanks for the help!

 

[drum]

perhaps your .OST file is corrupt.
your ost file should be located under

root\documents and settings\username\local settings\application data\microsoft\outlook\outlook.ost

the local settings and application data folders are hidden so you may have to go to Folders--view--view hidden files and folders

before you delete your ost file, take note of how large it is as this will indicate how long it will take outlook to synchronize once you open outlook back up. which reminds me, make sure outlook is closed before deleting this.
once you open outlook, it will act as if it hasn't been opened before and will begin setting up your mailbox from what is saved on the exchange server.

 

[unnamedplayer]

Hey thanks for the reply. I went ahead and ran ScanPST on the OST file and it said it found errors and corrected them. I then opened Outlook and the reminders popped up normally like they should without locking up the computer. So hopefully this has fixed it. Thanks a lot!

 

[drum]

good to hear, anything that saves you from having to wait while that ost syncs makes you a winner. If that thing is a few hundred megs.. see you in a couple hours.

 

[unnamedplayer]

Well, when I went into today I get a call from the user saying its happening again! Any other ideas?

 

[boomerang]

nevermind

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: unnamedplayer
Well, when I went into today I get a call from the user saying its happening again! Any other ideas?

The first things to do with Outlook problems:
0) First, check the integrity of the Exchange mailbox using OWA. If the reminders work fine in OWA, then it's an Outlook problem and not an Exchange problem.
1) Run "Detect and Repair....." in Outlook.
2) Rename or delete the .OST file. There's no advantage to trying to repair the .OST file if you have a functional Exchange Server. It won't take THAT long to synchronize a User mailbox. I have clients with 2GB mailboxes and 100Mbps connections. I don't know exactly how long they take to re-synch, but it's certainly NOT hours. Beside, you can use Outlook while it's re-synching. The "Inbox" gets rebuilt first. Or just use OWA in the meantime.

 

[unnamedplayer]

Thanks for that advice Rebate. I just opened the mailbox using OWA and no reminders have popped up yet. They should pop up within a few seconds shouldn't they? If so, does this mean there is a problem with the Exchange mailbox? How would I go about fixing it?

Thanks for the advice!

 

[RebateMonger]

Yeah, scheduled reminders should pop up immediately in OWA.

You are now in "unexplored territory". It certainly points towards some soft of Mailbox corruption. Fixing Outlook clients is usually trivial. A Mailbox problem could be tougher.

First: Have you done the Outlook "Detect and Repair...." and have you renamed your .OST file? I'd still start there. Also, if Outlook isn't at SP2, I'd fix that.

Is there only one mailbox having this problem? Were there any restore operations done on your mailboxes recently?

There are some things that could be done with .PST files and restoring the mailbox, but I'd try those two previously-mentioned things first. Rename that .OST file. As always, you want backups of email in case something bad happens in the repair process.

 

[unnamedplayer]

OK, well I feel stupid now. I think the reason reminders did not pop up is because I was checking OWA in FireFox. I just checked it in IE6 and the reminders popped up right away.

To answer your other questions though, this is the only only user having this problem. I don't believe Outlook is at SP2. Do you have a link where I can get it? Is there just an Outlook service pack or do I have to install a whole Office 2003 Service Pack?

I will take the steps of running Detect and Repair first and then rename the OST if that doesn't work. Detect and Repair should leave all of the settings and contacts in tact correct?

Again thanks for all the advice!

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: unnamedplayer
Detect and Repair should leave all of the settings and contacts in tact correct?

Yeah, D&R shouldn't hurt anything. Neither will refeshing your .OST.

You should be able to update to SP2 from the "Help" menu of Outlook. However, if you have an "Administrative Install" of Outlook, then you'd have to have it updated via Group Policy.

Since it IS apparently the Outlook client, there's some more stuff that can be checked out if those first two don't work.

 

[unnamedplayer]

Well, I ran D&R and it went through without giving any errors messages or anything. Opened Outlook, same thing. So, I tried renaming the OST. Opened Outlook again and everything loaded fine. Pop-up reminders worked like they should. So to be sure I reboot the computer and try opening Outlook again. The reminders freeze the comp up again! So, I reboot and try installing SP2. Opened Outlook, same crap.

Thoughts?

Edit: Hmm..I thought this was a bit interesting. I left Outlook opened when it froze up this time and I just went back to check on it and I noticed the title bar of the reminders window had changed. It started out saying "1 Reminder" now it says "6 Reminders" and there is a bubble that popped up in the Outlook icon of the system tray that says Outlook has lost connection to the Exchange Server and will reconnect when possible.

I don't know if this is relevant to my problem, but I just thought I'd share.

 

[RebateMonger]

Make sure that computer has a valid and reliable (internal) DNS server.

 

[unnamedplayer]

Well, I just checked what address the primary and alternate DNS servers are set to. They are the appropriate values for our DNS servers that every other computer on our network is using. Any thing else?

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: unnamedplayer
Edit: Hmm..I thought this was a bit interesting. I left Outlook opened when it froze up this time and I just went back to check on it and I noticed the title bar of the reminders window had changed. It started out saying "1 Reminder" now it says "6 Reminders" and there is a bubble that popped up in the Outlook icon of the system tray that says Outlook has lost connection to the Exchange Server and will reconnect when possible.

I don't know if this is relevant to my problem, but I just thought I'd share.

It sounds like a networking issue. Try logging into this same mailbox from a different PC.
1) Log onto the other PC as the User in question.
2) Outlook will build a new profile for the User on that PC.
3) See how things work.

 

[unnamedplayer]

Thanks for the reply.

I just went ahead and added this user's account to my local computer, logged on to it and then opened Outlook using her mailbox. Everything came up fine, reminders and all!

So, what does this mean? Could it be a faulty NIC or ethernet cord? Or maybe its on the software side?

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: unnamedplayer
Thanks for the reply.

I just went ahead and added this user's account to my local computer, logged on to it and then opened Outlook using her mailbox. Everything came up fine, reminders and all!

So, what does this mean? Could it be a faulty NIC or ethernet cord? Or maybe its on the software side?

Thanks for all the advice.

Yeah. Could be any of those.

Figuring out which one could be done either using network diagnostics or by brute force.

Brute force method:
If you have a laptop, you could plug the laptop into her workstations network cable and verify that Outlook works from the laptop. That would rule out the wiring. Then you could put a new NIC into her PC to rule out the NIC. I'm assuming that you have up-to-date NIC drivers installed on her PC.

If her PC still doesn't respond, it's probably software. You could try re-installing Office or Outlook. Or even Windows, if all else fails.

Network diagnostics method:

Enable Outlook logging (troubleshooting) option.
Check computer Event Logs, looking for networking events.
Microsoft Support: Troubleshooting Network Connectivity Problems

 

[unnamedplayer]

Well I think uninstalling and then reinstalling Outlook would be my simplest option right now. I need to know before I do this though, will this user's contacts and other data stay intact or will I lose it all? If I'm going to lose it is there a way to back it up first?

Thanks.

 

[RebateMonger]

Anything in the Exchange Mailbox will stay. If it's in a local .PST account, the .PST file will also stay. You'll have to tell the new Outlook install where to find any .PST files.

 

[unnamedplayer]

ARGHH!

Ok..so I tried uninstalling and then reinstalling Outlook. No luck.

Then, I tried swapping out the network cord. No luck.

Then I tried updating the NIC drivers. No luck.

Then I disable the onboard NIC and installed a new one. I turn on the computer and Windows installs the drivers and then I configure it with the right IP address and all that and then opened Outlook. And it worked!

So I'm thinking great...let me just test it once more to make sure. At this point I plug the old network cord back in since I figured its fine. Turn the computer back on and open Outlook and the reminders freeze again!

So, I shut down, plug the new network cord back in and start up again. Open Outlook again and it still happens!

Am I really going to have to reinstall Windows to fix this? lol

Thanks.

Edit: OK now this is weird. I just turned the computer on after taking out the new NIC card and the onboard NIC card was still disable. I opened Outlook just for giggles and it still froze up with the reminders. So maybe this isn't a network issue?

 

[RebateMonger]

Sorry it's not working.

Here's what I'd do at this point:

Insert a different computer at the desktop. Verify that the new computer will reliably open the problem-User's Outlook mailbox.

If it works, then I'd probably just re-install Windows. You could do network diagnostics (as I mentioned above). But finding the problem and fixing it could be timeconsuming and isn't a sure thing. A Windows re-install is pretty-much guaranteed to work, if you've verified that a different computer inserted in its place works fine.

This is the brute-force approach. But it'll likely lead to a successful conclusion.

 

[RebateMonger]

Answering a different question just made me think of something:

Is this PC's Outlook running in "Cached Exchange Mode"?

If not, try it and see if that has an effect.

 

[imported_JFG]

recreate the outlook profile & also recreate their reminders