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baytowelFlag for United States of America

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Outlook 2003, on my MS Server 2003 OS, has stopped responding, can you help?

Problem:
Accessed my Server 2003 OS this morning, and it was sitting at Ctrl-Alt-Del.  This is unussual, because it is in a Virtual environement and was logged in and locked.  I tried to start Outlook, used to send reports to users, and the program says the options are "Retry, Work Off Line, or Cancel".    My initial attepmt was "Retry", but It locked and nolonger gets to a point where I can choose it only says "Not Responding".  I know for a fact that my Exchange server is responding normally.

What I have done to correct it:
I have repaired the office install.  I have run the "MS FixIt" tool.  I am unable to get into the Outlook Interface.  I can access "Mail" in control panel, but that seems limited, before that locks-up.  My Outlook OST is missing.  I try to create another profile, but it locks up the "Mail" interface.



Does anyone have a clue what I can do? User generated image
Avatar of Justin Owens
Justin Owens
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Can you start outlook in safe mode?  From the command prompt:

outlook /safe

If this works, then you have something corrupt, like an extension or an email trying to display in the reading pane.  If it fails, you may have a corrupt profile itself.

Also, check DNS resolution.  Outlook uses server names (exchange.domain.local), so if you cannot resolve those, it will fail to respond properly.  That can also prevent you from creating a new profile.

DrUltima
Avatar of baytowel

ASKER

Thank you for your response.  I have tried adding a different profile, to no avail.  I have been prompted to start in "Safe Mode" and tried it with no variation, but I have not tried from the command prompt.  I have also looked into DNS and all appears to be in place.

At this time, I have uninstalled Outlook 2003 (Stand Alone) and I will reinstall to see if this corrects the problem.  As this is a Production server, I will not reboot between uninstall and reinstall.  I know this may impede the repair, but I am hoping it will refresh the correct files.

DNS may be configured correctly, but is it working correctly?

From a command prompt, if you do a:

nslookup servername

Does it both check your correct DNS server (not an ISP) and also resolve it to the correct server?
Yes.  NSLookUp is correct.
Just re-read.  Do I understand that you have Outlook installed on the same server as Exchange?
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baytowel
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My solution was drastic but it worked.